I have a neat little flash stand that is actually made from the floor stand for a small halogen worklight.  I added a 1/4-20 bolt and voila, my poverty wizard and Nikon SB-24 flash are really portable, but still stable.

Tonight, I perched it on the kitchen table, hidden behind my wife’s laptop, then went outside and popped off an exposure through the French doors. 

I’ll add the pic at a later time, possibly, but suffice to say that it was a very effective bouncing technique.  The light filled the room pretty well, and the door added some framing.

Karma wants to use this technique next week at a shoot of her family, and so there’s more experimentation to be done. 

Further experimentation convinced me that bouncing off the ceiling from off camera is a very valid portrait technique, as well, and I bet that popping a little hair light from the opposite side would make for some awesome stuff.  At least, that’s what I think.

I’ve got to remember to set white balance to “flash” when I do these, as the combination of flash and bounce is adding some color that I don’t like. 

In other news, Karma received her new (to her) Canon 30D today and that learning process has begun…  I’m amazed at the difference in focus speed.  Even the 50mm f/1.8 is QUICK.  That’s impressive and worthwhile.  The L glass will be lightning.