Will It Bounce? Part 3: School Concert ~ Better Family Photos

Ever had to shoot in a small auditorium and wondered whether you could bounce flash?

Our toddler had a school concert last week. The auditorium had ceilings that were navy-blue and about 20 to 25 feet high. The room had fluorescent lights overhead, but a significant part of the ambient light was coming from a door on camera left. The ambient exposure was around f/4.5, 1/80, ISO 1600. I had with me only an old zoom lens Nikkor 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 AF-D, a D70 (tops out at ISO 1600), and an SB-800.

Navy blue ceilings

Ambient was from a door and from fluorescent lights overhead.

At first I tried ambient only but the shots looked a little blurry. My effective focal length was around 157.5 mm and my shutter speed was only 1/80.

Ambient only. Straight out of the camera.

It was also underexposed. But my ISO was already at its maximum and my aperture at its widest. If I had used a slower shutter speed, the shots would have been even more blurry. I opted to keep my exposure as is and adjust the exposure in post-processing (effectively pushing the ISO).

Meanwhile I started to wonder whether I could bounce the flash. They were kind of high and quite dark (almost black). But I thought it was worth a shot. I bounced the flash straight up (in some cases slightly tilted forward or slightly tilted camera left). And here's what I got: