REFLECTORS
LIGHTING - using reflectors
One of the benefits of working with light is that it can be shaped, that is, it can be reflected or ‘bounced’ onto your subject in any way you desire. For instance if you only have one light to use, yet you want to add a bit of ‘fill light’ to open out the shadows on the opposite side of your subject, then reflecting the light is an option. A reflector can be anything at all, as long as it can reflect light from the main source and ‘bounce’ it. It won’t be as strong as the main source but it may be enough to give definition to the shadows. If you want a different colour to be bounced back to the subject, then simply use a different coloured reflector.
These two small ceramic pigeonniers (French dovecotes) below are lit by just one tungsten light. But I have used a blank sheet of A4 paper opposite them as a reflector to show how effective this can be. Notice the soft illumination ‘fill’ the A4 paper has given. Sometimes this is all you need. Otherwise on location, circular, flexible, foldable reflectors (d) are a great help. They are cheap, light and very effective and can be folded up. They can have silver, white or gold as their reflective surfaces. Alternatively, you can even stop light from reflecting by using black card so the shadows are darker still.
All photography and information © Jon Davison 2022.