Many of us were thrilled when Olympus added a popup flash to its latest PEN, the E-PL1
The popup flash head is attached to an ingenious "arm" mechanism that raises it above the camera body. This helps control red eye and lowers shadows a bit. But what's really cool, is that this "arm" swivels at the base. So you can angle the mechanism back on a 90 degree angle so the flash is pointing directly upward. Yes, you can bounce the built-in flash.
I used this bounce technique when I had to take a quick shot for this week's podcast, Wireless Photography. Direct flash would have caused an unwanted reflection in the glass screen of the iPad. (I was already taking a picture of another camera flashing directly at me.)
For best results, increase your ISO to 400 or 800. This will extend the range of the flash when bouncing it off white surfaces.
to the iPad. I will sometimes touch them up using Photogene. And if I'm going to share them online, I open the shots in 
, and a nifty application on the iPad called 
, they've provided tough competition to the 
for stereo audio recording. For lighting, I mounted a 
on a bracket to augment the ambient light and to balance facial tones. The entire rig was held together with a 
. This set up is so light that you can hold it with one hand, although I don't recommend that for recording.
($40), and the 
($95).
