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04/12/2004 09:34:40 AM · #1 |
I have a big Gold/White 'LiteDisc' which I won. I tried to use it the other day when doing an outside photoshoot with a band. It was a sunny clear day (not the best conditions, I know) and I tried to use the reflector to bounce light back under the band members to stop the harsh shadows. As you can see from the following photo, I dont think I was using it properly:
more examples on the website at //www.dnamusic.rocks.it
Does anyone have any tips on how to use these discs effectively?
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04/12/2004 09:44:01 AM · #2 |
Some basics that I know.
You want a reflector about twice the area of your subject that you want to throw the light on - the reflector you'd use for a single head shot can be a lot smaller than for 3 people/ full body shots for example.
It is a whole lot easier to do use one with an assistant.
Move the reflector around, while looking at the subject, to see how it changes the light. you need to angle it half way between the light source (sun) and the subject, to get the strongest bounce as a starting point.
The strongest bounce often isn't what you really want - you just want to catch the edge of the light in to the subject - raise shadows, maybe give a catch light in the eyes. If you get it 'square on' and bounce all the light back into them, you'll dazzle your subject, have them squinting and generally not help much!
With a reflector to lighten shadows
In particular, note that the sun is behind her and she's backlit, yet there is still some light in her face, also the catchlight in her eyes is from the reflector.
Message edited by author 2004-04-12 09:46:10.
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04/12/2004 11:50:11 AM · #3 |
I have used a white styrofoam board as a reflector when taking pictures of my children, and I have a small gold reflector for small subjects in nature (made of one of those black foldable carwindow sunscreens spraid with gold paint, also usable as diffuser).
I have not used it in harsh sunlight like you tried. I think they cannot be expected to solve the problem, since they cast light back not only on the shadows but also on the highlights, so they don't change the balance between them.
And that is exactly why Gordon's example did work well, the whole face needed extra light.
I would try to move the people around so at least the whole face is in the shadows (turning them, moving them into a shaded area, or use a very large diffuser (with assistant)) and then use a reflector to light up their face.
Just my two cents, any real experts here ?
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04/12/2004 01:20:44 PM · #4 |
Ben,
I hesitated to post because I have not mastered the reflector at all. In my experience (42" Impact 5-in-1 reflector - //www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=283648&is=REG) I found that the reflector skills are almost unusable without an assistant. I've tried to prop the reflector, affix the reflector and even hold it myself while composing and taking the shot and none of these methods yielded any useful photos. I have directed an assistant to reflect light onto a subject and that was good. The way we went about that was to position the model where I wanted her, move around and compose the photo I wanted and then direct the assistant to move around and twist/turn the reflector until the light that was on the subject wasn't too overpowering (don't want to create shadows going the other way) but that was blended with the direct light. It was a process and I have the feeling that it would take numerous sessions with an assistant before we got very good with the process. I've taken to using fill flash from the 550EX to reduce or remove shadows from subjects. I never can use direct flash so I either bounce the flash straight up into a ProMax LumiQuest 80/20 Pocket Bounce unit (//www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=32580&is=REG) or I put a StoFen OmniBounce head (//www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=89908&is=REG) on top of the flash unit to produce the lighting effect I want.
Perhaps once I have someone to work with I can spend more time learning how to setup the reflector as I can see a major benefit from it with others' portraits. If someone has more experience with handling this type of reflector (or similar) by oneself I'd love to hear a methodology.
Thanks,
Kev
Message edited by author 2004-04-12 13:21:37.
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04/12/2004 01:30:43 PM · #5 |
Though something to realise about an omnibounce, is that it isn't going to help you outdoors (doesn't make any change to the direct light path, just scatters so that it hits the walls) works well in doors, with close walls/ ceiling, but won't do anything other than drain your batteries faster outdoors.
One of those pocket bounces can be a help outdoors, but you'll probably do about as well with a white index card and a rubber band. Quite a bit cheaper and gets you that reduced/ flick forward portion of the light, though again, most of these are really aimed at being modifications for ceiling bounced light.
You can get softer light from a flash, but you need a larger surface area - the mini soft boxes that fit over a lens can be useful for that.
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04/12/2004 01:33:12 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by KevinRiggs:
Perhaps once I have someone to work with I can spend more time learning how to setup the reflector as I can see a major benefit from it with others' portraits. If someone has more experience with handling this type of reflector (or similar) by oneself I'd love to hear a methodology.
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Assistants are the way to go - either that or an easily adjustable stand - but an assistant is a whole lot easier to work with and control :) You are also right in that it takes a bit of practice - the starting point of using the reflector and getting the subject 'lit up' invariably also blinds the model, the edge of the bounced light is what you want to be using, not the 'full strength' reflection.
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04/12/2004 02:02:53 PM · #7 |
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04/12/2004 02:09:02 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by KevinRiggs:
[quote=Gordon] Though something to realise about an omnibounce, is that it isn't going to help you outdoors |
I didn't say it wouldn't work - just that it doesn't help you.
The clue is in the name - bounce. If you don't have something to bounce the light off, all you are doing is reducing the power output, which you can just as well do with FEC and save your batteries.
The omnibounce is the same size as the flash head - hence you don't soften any shadows with it. It scatters the light and bounces off ceilings/ walls/ floors so gives softer shadows that way - without things to bounce off, it doesn't do anything- even the manufacturer points that out. All it will do is drop your flash power by about 2.5 times - try doing the same with FEC and you'll see similar results.
Index cards are for an entirely different purpose - to flick some fill light forward for catchlights, while bouncing most of the light from the ceiling. The Sto-Fen Two-way UNI is essentally a commercial version of exactly this kind of flash modification.
The pocket bounce is a different thing again - it creates a 'mini ceiling' to let you bounce the light forward from, but it does have a larger surface area than the flash head - so does produce slightly more diffused shadows - it also has the advantage of being higher off the camera, giving a slightly better angle and further reducing the potential for red-eye.
3 different flash modifiers, for 3 very different situations.
Message edited by author 2004-04-12 14:14:39.
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04/12/2004 02:21:41 PM · #9 |
These two presentations are real useful on flashes/ reflectors and modifiers
Sports Shooter 5 minute light tutorial
Portrait lighting demo
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04/13/2004 07:21:24 PM · #10 |
Thanks for all the tips :) I'll read up on it some more and try again next shoot :)
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04/13/2004 07:37:13 PM · #11 |
It's a lot simpler than some of these posts make out: think of it as another light source, of less power than your primary light source (the sun in your case). It doesn't only fill shadows, it adds light generally - with a gold reflector, because the amount of light reflected is pretty close to the original source's intensity, that adds up to quite a bit of bright if you're effectively using it to cover the same area twice. Which would explain the high contrast of your shot Ben.
My experience with such things is that a reflector is of much less use than a simple white board, which will produce roughly half the light of your orignal source, and much more diffuse (and thus flattering) at that. Angle it from as nearly opposite your primary source as possible to start with, and gradually move it toward the camera to lessen the cross-lighting effect until you achieve what you want.
E
Message edited by author 2004-04-13 19:38:53.
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