If you have ever attended a wedding or similar event, you may have seen a photographer with a flash aimed straight forward, but mounted on a bracket like the one here:

That is, a bracket that allows the flash to be mounted far from the camera.

A bracket like this is not as good as bouncing, or as an umbrella, but it can have advantages when those two are not possible: The flash is quite far from the lens, but still above it, to avoid side shadow. And on the bracket pictured, I can mount several flashes:

That makes a difference. In fact, the bracket pictured even allows me to mount an umbrella. At the risk of looking silly, with this bracket I have a way to get pretty good light even outside and anywhere else where bouncing is not an option.

This is an excerpt of the Portrait Photography book. Get your free preview chapter here (click to download).