Making homemade [photography] reflectors?
Can anyone offer me some tips and general advice as to how I’d go about making my own reflectors for portrait photography?
I was thinking about getting two large sheets of foam core board (about 3 x 4 feet), and making one side of each piece gold, and the other side white.
Would I be better off to use fabric? I had originally thought about gold foil, but I know it would tear and crinkle easier. And would using paints be of any help?
Any tips or suggestions you have, would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance.
Foam core makes great reflectors.
Insofar as gold foil is concerned, if it tears, it is easy to replace. And crumpling does a lot to soften the reflection. If you want a stronger material, try gold mylar. It won’t tear so easily and it won’t crinkle so much.
I wouldn’t try painting the foam core gold. Painting it might not prove the best reflective material for your needs. I have seldom found a good, really glossy (reflective) gold paint. But, you could try it and, if it doesn’t work out for you, put foil on it afterwards.
You could simply use silver colored broiler foil. It’s strong, crinkles nicely, is easy to apply and reflects very well. It won’t be a cold light source if your main light is warm (say, sunlight.) It’s probably the least expensive option and is certainly worth a try. You might like it.
I always used pure white flats to bounce light into my shots. These were large 8′X8′ panels covered with white background paper. I then filtered the light with gels mounted behind the camera lens (View Camera) to get just the amount of warmth or color correction that I required.
Considering that, you might be very happy using just the white side of the reflectors. Try that too. You can always add a correction factor either in camera or in post-processing if you need a bit more warmth in your shot.
Hope these suggestions help.
GlixPix
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