Text and Photos by Chuck Place©
Are you ready to start modifying the lighting in your images for more impact? There is an easy and inexpensive way to do this without carrying cumbersome and expensive photographic lighting equipment. Photo reflectors make it possible to control contrast, change lighting patterns and alter the color of the light you are using. You can even change the apparent time of day with a reflector. They are light weight, inexpensive and you can even see the results before you press the shutter button. Are you getting to the point in your photography where you are developing a personal style or creating storylines in your work? Take your work to the next level by using photographic reflectors to modify and shape the light in your images.
Available in a wide range of shapes, sizes, colors and surface reflectivity, photographic reflectors are light weight and inexpensive tools to modify light. Shooting professionally, I have a collection of reflectors ranging in size from 3×6 feet to a tiny 12 inch disc that looks like a frisbee.
My favorite reflector is a 24 inch round disc that folds to 8 inches that always hangs off one end of my camera bag. It weighs only ounces and has a matt white surface on one side and a shiny, reflective surface on the other side composed of tiny gold and silver rectangles. The white side reflects soft, neutral light while the other produces a brighter light with a slightly warm tint. It’s versatility makes it invaluable in a wide range of situations.
My favorite reflector is a 24 inch round disc that folds to 8 inches
The most basic reflector use is controlling contrast by adding light to the shadow side of a person or subject. See Featured Image above. This is useful in backlit subjects, where you want your subject nearly as bright as the background, or side-lit subjects, where you want to reduce the contrast between the bright key side of your subject and the darker shadow side.
Using a silver reflector, it is also possible to change the lighting pattern on a subject’s face, creating a flatter “beauty” lighting pattern with a single, available light source.
One of my favorite uses for my small 22 inch reflector is simulating sunlight. I first place my subject in open shade next to a building and set my camera to underexpose my subject, usually a food dish, about 2/3 of a stop. I next place my reflector out in direct sunlight with the gold/silver side aimed roughly at my subject. I adjust the reflector’s position to give me the angle I want and feather it to get the amount of “morning sunshine” that I want for my image.
I’m essentially blending the soft cool blue light of open shade with the more specular warmed sunlight from my reflector. I use a tripod and long cable release so I can manipulate the reflector and fire the camera at the same time. Depending on how much light I add with my reflector, I may have to adjust the exposure a bit. This is a great technique for simulating early or late-in-the-day sunlight during a mid-day photo shoot.
This is a great technique for simulating early or late-in-the-day sunlight during a mid-day photo shoot.
Keep in mind that you do not aim the reflector directly at your subject. Because light bounces off a reflector at the same angle that it hits the reflector, you always aim roughly in the middle between your light source and your subject. And if your model is looking in the general direction of the reflector, be careful not to blind them with a bright, specular light.
The possibilities are endless for shaping or completely altering ambient light using a reflector. It’s merely a matter of previsualizing the final image. The question, of course, is why aren’t you working with this simple tool to manipulate ambient light and produce more dramatic photographs?
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