Now, before laying out some side by side shots, lets look at what can be done with bare flash. We already know that the bare flash aimed directly at the subject looks really terrible, but do we REALLY have to use these gizmos perched on top of the flash to get a nice photo? Not always, and in fact, maybe even most of the time you do not need the fancy diffusers. The higher end flashes rotate and tilt for a reason. Unless you are in a very large room, you can simply rotate the flash head away from the subject and make very effective use of bounce flash. There are some tricks to getting it right though. First, set the flash zoom manually so that it is at it's maximum telephoto range. On this Canon 580 EX flash, that is 105mm. When bouncing flash, there is no need for a wide angle pattern. You want to project a powerful beam of light instead of scattering it. Second, never point the flash straight up to the ceiling. This gives the famous "raccoon eye" look to your subject because light is falling down from above. Instead, you want to aim the light to your REAR, at about a 45 degree angle. This gives bounce light from a more forward direction to the subject, as well as from above. Here is the flash turned as stated. Using through the lens flash metering is fine, at close range there is seldom a need for EV compensation. At further distances, a +1 EV may be needed.