OK... this is for real

[boblybill]

I just got myself a new flash and wireless transmitter and I'm totally dumb when it comes to flash photography. Right now I don't have a diffuser which I'm starting to understand I'll need if I'm going to really get serious about this type of photography. I have a friend that is getting married this June, and he asked my brother-in-law, my good friend, and me to shoot the wedding since he really likes all three of our stuff. I really want to just blow his socks off with some amazing shots, and to do this I need to start to grasp the art of the flash I'm feeling. So I have some questions about this shot and flash photography in general... (I'm going to try to really put you to work in the next couple of month Hertz, I hope you don't mind).

1) In general, where should a person place a flash? In this shot, my face is facing the flash so that the flash isn't really casting any shadows (other than my glasses). I heard this is good for a female's face but not so much for a male's, because you want a female's face to look "flat"/soft and a male's face needs to show more features. Is this true? I'm not too worried about facial expression or crop in this shot as I'm really just trying to grasp flash placement.
2) I know there is a shadow cast on the wall behind me, would it be better to stay farther away from a wall to soften the shadow or again is there a better place to put the flash?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3323/3449709975_87644302c8_o.jpg

[Hertz van Rental]

Light casts shadows. It's a fact of life (and Physics).
So here is the short course on lighting.
There are two types of light: direct and reflected.
Direct light comes in two flavours: hard and soft.
Reflected light also comes in hard and soft.
Hard direct: direct flash, bare bulb, candle, sun etc.
Soft direct: flash with diffuser, North light, sun behind thin cloud etc.
Hard reflector: mirror, tinfoil etc.
Soft reflector: anything light with a texture (card, fabric and so on).

The harder edged the shadows produced then the harder the light (be it direct or reflected).
The softer, less defined the shadows the softer the light.

Hard light, by casting shadows, brings out texture. And the effect is enhanced the further away you move the light source from the lens axis.
With women you want to flatter so you don't want to show wrinkles or pores. Thus a soft light as near to the lens axis as possible will do the trick.
Men like to look rugged so the light off to one side - 45 degrees to lens axis optimum - will do this. Even with soft light this can be a bit too harsh in terms of contrast so it is usual to put a reflector on the opposite side to bounce some light onto the dark side of the face. The nearer to the face you move the reflector the more light you put in and the lower the overall contrast.
This is, of course, if the sitter is square-on to the camera.
If the face is turned it is usual to move the light accordingly (but not the reflector). But it is not always the case.

The nearer the sitter is to the background the more obvious the shadow they cast.
Moving the background away reduces the shadow and, with softlight, increases it's 'fuzziness'.
In studio work it is normal to have the background 6 to 12 feet away so there is no shadow. Light levels on it will be low so a second light can be used.
In practice, the fewer lights you use the better because each light will produce shadows and highlights of their own. And also increase the risk of lens flare.

However, I would recommend checking out the work of Clarence Sinclair Bull, Otto Dyar, Eugene Robert Richee and the rest if you want to see what can be achieved by completely ignoring everything I have just said.

So to sum up:
There are no rules: work with what you've got to hand and, providing you are a creative genius, you'll be fine.


PS People tend to have shiny faces - particularly around nose, cheeks and forehead. These shiny areas always cause lighting problems by giving hotspots. One trick is to have a piece of clean chamois leather to hand. If you use it to wipe the shiny areas it will dull them enough to ease the problem.
It's better to have a make-up artist on hand, of course, but they are awkward to fit in a camera bag (and they will complain and possibly charge you more).