Photographers can use reflectors to add catchlights into the eyes without having to use additional lights other than the ones you have already implemented in lighting your subject. Adding sparkle and depth into them brings a picture to life, connects the viewer with an image, and elevates your capture from a “nice” to a great, engaging picture. The most important element of a portrait is undoubtedly the eyes, allowing a glimpse at someone’s emotions and story. The brighter your source, the more effective the bounce. You can channel sunlight and daylight flooding in through windows similarly. Strobes aren’t the only light source that photographers can reflect. Typically the model would sit next to a reflector brightening their shadowy side or have a reflector positioned below to weaken shadows underneath the chin. Positioning a reflector opposite your light source or near the shadowed side of your subject bounces light back into your scene and will consequently fill in the shadows by lessening their intensity.Īdded fill (and catch light!) caused by a silver reflector bouncing the single key light while camera settings stay the same. Photographers use reflectors as a way to fill shadows and recover detail without having to use additional fill lights – a handy tool when the number of light sources is limited, working in small spaces and looking to travel light. They aren’t a source of light therefore, their intensity depends directly on the light source that is being shone onto them. Reflectors are surfaces able to bounce existing light back onto your subject, typically white or metallic in nature. Having covered the “dark side” let’s have a look at ways to use light, rather than block it. Before being THIS sophisticated, I simply used black cardboard from an art shop and even a black bedsheet at one point. My very first “flag” was an insulation styrofoam sheet from a hardware store, covered in black paint on one side. While most flags are cost-effective, if you don’t have one on hand there are ways to make your own. C -stands and clamps offer a great solution and once in the right position they stay put for as long as required. Shaping LightĬarefully positioned in front of the source, the flag can modify the direction/ spread of light, adding some interesting shadows and drama to your images.Īn assistant can hold your flag in place, bearing in mind that this can get tiring and they can’t guarantee a consistent position. How Photographers Use Flagsĭark in nature, a flag’s main purpose is the blocking and cutting of light, which you can do in a couple of different ways. Polar opposite in use and essential in every good light shaper’s arsenal due to their portability and affordability. The clue to their function is definitely in their name, yet the internet has widely accepted the terms “black reflector” and “white flag”, both oxymorons counteractive in our quest to understand light and shadow.įlags, in short, block light while reflectors act as a surface to bounce (reflect) light back onto the subject. While it is a great starting point to invest in a reliable set of lights and a modifier that pleases our creative vision, many forget that we can refine and perfect available light further in a cost-effective way by introducing flags and reflectors for photographers into our kits. In the search of taking that perfectly lit image, striving to constantly improve ourselves and our art, we often get sucked into the idea that buying more expensive gear will fix all our problems and automatically deliver more striking images.
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