Bounce Light
Bounce lighting reflects light from a surface (wall, ceiling, poly, card) before it reaches the subject, so the apparent source becomes that large surface. Direction remains, but shadow edges soften and wrap.
Narrative function
You keep a window side or a lamp side without the brutality of the bare source. Faces wrap, rooms feel inhabited, and the key still has a direction because the bounce surface occupies a place in the world.
Period interiors and daylight rooms use it so skin does not speckle. It is the wrong tool when you need razor shadows, a gobo pattern, or a hard split.
Bounce is a method, not a facial pattern: it is not Rembrandt, not split, not butterfly. Those patterns die if you bounce too much.
How it works
Aim a lamp or the sun at a white or neutral surface, then let that surface light the subject. Larger and closer bounce means softer light.
Color picks up the bounce surface: white stays honest, a cream wall warms, a green wall will tint. The key side is the side of the bounce, not the lamp behind it.
Prompt: Bounce light on [Subject], key ricocheted off a white wall or poly, wrapping, gentle, large-source softness.
When to use it
Use it to soften without losing direction, a face by a white wall, a ceiling bounce in a low room. Do not bounce when you need a crisp nose shadow or projected blinds.
Compared with similar shots
Soft light can also come from a large silk in line with the lamp; bounce specifically reflects first. Window light is often bounced by walls after entering.
Fill light is a job bounce often performs. Motivated lighting may use bounce to imitate a wall the story has.
Hard light is the quality bounce destroys.
In film
Cries and Whispers uses wrap from walls and rooms so faces glow without a hard edge. The Tree of Life often lets sun hit interiors and bounce into skin.
The method is the ricochet, not a filter named soft.
Prompt it
Name the reflecting surface. " State the wall's side and color.
Forbid a small bare bulb as the apparent source.
What usually goes wrong
The usual wrong cousin is a bare hard key or a frontal silk that is not a bounce. The tell is razor nose shadows, or a source that still looks small.
Fix it by making the last surface before the face a large wall or board, and by naming that surface.
Questions
What is bounce light in film?
Light that hits a surface and then the subject. The surface becomes a large, softer source while keeping some direction.
Bounce light vs soft light
Soft light is the quality (large apparent source). Bounce is one method of getting that quality, by reflecting off a wall, ceiling, or board.
When should I use bounce light?
Use it when you want wrap and gentle shadows without losing which side is keyed. Skip it for hard graphic shadow.
How do I prompt bounce light for AI image or video?
Say the key ricochets off a white wall or poly before hitting the subject. Name the bounce side and the wrap. No small bare source on the face.
Melies can generate this Bounce Light
Melies is the AI filmmaking workspace. This Bounce Light opens with the lighting prompt loaded, so you generate the key, fill, and falloff instead of naming a mood.