HI thanks for the chance to host the technique challenge, I have chosen Using A Reflector as the challenge to try this time around, ie. bouncing light with something to even out shadows.
there are many things around the house that can be used to bounce light onto your subject , including a plain white piece of paper, a baking sheet, or one of these handmade ones using cardboard and aluminium foil, Even an A4 sized one will be enough to play with for portraits or still lifes
If anyone finds some other information we can all learn from about this subject, please post it below.
the dates for this challenge are starting today March 21, and to finish Friday April 1
tag your entries technique55 and it would be good if you could add a little explanation to your photo about what you used and how you placed it and evaluate your results.
i have a huge 5in1 reflector thst my mum brought me for christmas.. Ive taken it out of the back once..lol.. I will def get it out and give this a go..
@mzzhope basically, it can be dark and dingy in the forest and you want to redirect some light onto the fungi to make them stand out from the background and also to shine light on details like the gills on the undersides, so you just play around with the position of the reflector until you get a nice highlighting effect. it can help to have an assistant!!
I taped some aluminium foil to an old car window shade and played with the light and shadow. Positioning was tricky but I guess I will get the hang of it with further practice under different lighting conditions. The top photo is with the reflector and the bottom one is without.
@kiwinanna yes practice will let us see all the possibilities, I think one aspect is knowing why you want to use it, in this shot it seems like the shadow is not hiding or detracting from the subject so perhaps it was not the best example for the technique... just a thought.
thought I'd use a reflector for macro rather than a portrait. i found it gave a bit of lift to the composition, and after some fidgeting, some depth to the subject. I tried using it on some mushrooms but it didn't work so well and they weren't quite worth the effort:
other than using a reflector (a white cardboard carry bag) in the right hand shot, all settings were the same. Most areas of detail were improved by the reflector I think.
kali ace @sdutoit that is great info i didnt think to put on the original explanation, thanks for sharing, maybe you could copy your comment into the thread for others to read this weekend
Sylvia du toit
During a course I learned that you could use the reflectors protecting a cars dash in the sun. Here you get them in gold, silver blue. The different colors make a difference to your photo. Gold gives it a warm glow. Silver and blue a cool look. Hope you do understand my explanation.
What I like to use reflectors with speed lights. I have had the model hold it on the lap to hide the shadows under the chin, or have them on the side of the model to add light to the side. Also as @sdutoit I have used the gold, and silver one primarily. The gold does give a nice golden glow to the hair but I always have to be careful not to make the skin look too yellow from it - but usually that can be corrected in lightroom since I always shoot raw. I also use the white one to add just a very soft lighting to the skin where sometimes the silver is just a bit too harsh.
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I had a play with my reflector in this shot to see if it would make a difference and it did!
@mzzhope Hope I used my collapsible one for this shot, if that helps?
this is a gif file, click to see me going through the motions....
@sdutoit that is great info i didnt think to put on the original explanation, thanks for sharing, maybe you could copy your comment into the thread for others to read this weekend
Sylvia du toit
During a course I learned that you could use the reflectors protecting a cars dash in the sun. Here you get them in gold, silver blue. The different colors make a difference to your photo. Gold gives it a warm glow. Silver and blue a cool look. Hope you do understand my explanation.