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Step right up, young man, my lady. Come photographers - You are about to see some card magic that will leave you amazed. This very special card magic was thought to me by the Harry Potter himself ancient wizards of Tibet, passed on from generation to generation (from when flash photography was invented). You may say it is a slight of hands, an illusions of the eye, distraction of the mind. But I tell you NO, my friends this is true magic. It is called "The ACE of Bounce".
Now, does anyone in the audience has a card deck, any card deck will do. Yes sir, step right up. Please tell me where did you by this deck? At your usual K-mart, I see. is there anything special about this very regular Bicycle deck of card? No you say, well let us see.
Does anybody in the audience has a hot shoe flash. Not so common to hold in your pocket, I know. But surely one of you photographers must have one. Yes, yes, you journalist in the back with your SB-28. step right up please.
Let me assure you, there is nothing up my sleeve, just this usual-every-day rubber band. Now watch as I transform this hot shoe flash to a bouncing machine. What is that, my young snapshooter? Why do I need to bounce, you ask. Well this magic bounce will reduce red-eye, eliminate annoying shadows, produce magnificent catch light. Not to mention cure headaches, angry stomach and bad teeth.
Now I need a volunteer. Some brave (wo)man who is not afraid from light. Yes my dear. come this way please. Now pick a card. Any card. The ace of spades, I see. now watch as I use this plain rubber band to attach it to the flash head. Now, watch closely as I first attach the band to the flash. See how I place it close to the top of the head. Now, I place the card.... (audience gasp). BEHOLD!!!
The card it attached to the back of the flash producing a nice bounce. Now watch as I say the magic words and move the card to the side of the flash and give the flash a swivel. AVRA KEDAVRA! Potter himself could not have done it better.
Want more? See this ordinary piece of paper - I can attach this to my flash too. and create the same affect. HAHAHAHAHA. Now, I shall take pictures of all of you!!!! HAHAHAHA.
Now for a bit of ace explanation - any card will do the trick here, but, the ace of spades or the ace of clubs are the cards with no red color and allot of white surface. A pure gain. As I told my audience before, there is no need to use a card, you can use a sheet of paper, a cardboard or anything white that you can attach you your flash with a rubber band.
So, why not use the built-in bounce card? I can think of two reasons: 1. those fragile things tend to get broken and 2. you get more bounce "footage" with a bigger card.
Want more? visit this magical place for even greater magic. Be warned, though, he who bounces with a better card shall make bouncier photos...... you may also want to check this bouncer - a little more work, but better magic.
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Comments
Its the ace of clubs sir
Its the ace of clubs sir
Foam for a beter bounce card
I purchased 9x12 sheets of foam at Walmart for $.33 per sheet.
Yay
Brilliant. Thanks for sharing!
Bigger version - Use a white plastic lid
I have used this trick (rubber band and hvite reflector) a lot, but quickly found that I needed something bigger. Finally I got a white plastic, rectangular lid from an ice cream box. The short end was used at mount point, but even so it was wider than the flash, so I cut two slits (using a heavy scissor) matching the width of the flash. This makes the lower part of the lid wrap around the flash on both sides, but since the edges of the lid is profiled, the shape on top does not bend. I have used this a lot when photographing at consumer electronics product shows and need to move quickly from shot to shot.
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