In article <32a460da.0@pgh.nauticom.net>, anthrax@pgh.nauticom.net says...

>Looking for some help! I take a lot of flash photos (indoors) and have
>been very satisfied with my camera....except when I take a vertical shot
>(camera tilted 90 degrees to the left or right). When I do this, I always
>get a severe shadow on my subject since the flash is coming from the left
>or right (Nikon SB-24 mounted on a Nikon 8008) as opposed to straight on
>pictures when the flash is coming from straight ahead. My straight-on
>shots are fine and whenever I can bounce the flash off the ceiling, the
>result is wonderful. I have the cord accessory so that I can take the
>flash off the camera and have someone hold it above me while I take the
>vertical picture, but this is almost never possible since most of the
>shots are not posed (birthday parties, holidays, special occasions, etc),
>and I'd need someone to follow me around holding it all day. Is there any
>'trick' to avoiding this?? There are many times where I want to take a
>vertical shot but end up taking a horizontal one because I know the shadow
>will ruin the picture. I've started to look into the 'bounce' add-ons
>that you attach to the top of the flash...anyone have any experience with
>these? Would it work for this anyway since the flash is still going to
>come from the same direction? Any other ideas?

If you are using fast film, and/or wide apertures and short distances,
this works well for me: upturn the flash head and pop a medium-size
white Styrofoam cup over it - it both raises the light source above
the lens, and softens shadows a bit under some conditions.
And it is a cheap solution. I dislike brackets, since they introduce
what I call the "wrought-iron chin braces" - those under-chin black
shapes caused by having the light source too high. Try adding ambient
light as fill for the flash - it can soften shadows considerably...
Hope This Helps