Enjoying photography with the Nikon D40x

I try to make the most use of my DSLR camera. Apart from gorging on the photography books and magazines I can lay my hands on, I would go over the variety of photography blogs and discussion forums available. But naturally, practice is the key. And simply just having fun.

A photography tip I found invaluable (and informative) is the use of flash. I never liked how my indoor pictures turn out when I resort to using the flash even though the lighting conditions call for it. More often than not, the images I would get with the use of the flash are somehow 'severe' and come out with very harsh shadows / textures. I know that this just calls for more practice in its use and of the camera.

One of the things I learned recently is the use of a bouncer - albeit a homemade bouncer out of a business card (as seen at Shai Coggins).
I tried out the tip:

with flash












without flash












with flash, using the homemade bouncer












Although in this instance, I still prefer how the photo without the use of the flash turned out, the homemade bouncer created a much nicer overall lighting than that taken using the flash without a bouncer.