Bouncing

You often see flash - photos where the motiv is placed right in front of a wall.

What usually happens is that the motiv's shaddow is to be seen on the background ... Of course this can be an interesting addition to the photo, but of course you can avoid it, because in most cases you don't want to have it there.

So, how to avoid these shaddows???

You could try to enlarge the distance between motiv and wall (which often is not possible because of the location), but what usually is done, is to bounce your flash.

A lot of external flashlights offer the flash head to be directed in several directions, as for example to the ceiling.

The difference between the shots is to be seen in the next two photos which were taken from the same disctance to the motiv. The only change was the direction of the flash:

Direct flash to the motiv

Flash bounced to the ceiling