Useless Photo Tip - Using a reflector..
 

Ok.. I wanted to do a site.. with simple how to on both pro and armature levels...


I have not had time to do it because of other projects.



Here is a great way to do simple clean shoots.. with one light...


Also if people want to come by sometime and try this out let me know.



Ok


Some of basic things you need


1. This should be done in a dark area
2. A strobe ( not a hot light or anything else like that) ( elinchrom / alien bee / normons etc..etc..)
3. a softbox a light panel
4. a reflector
5. a person to hold the reflector or a stand that can hold a reflector



These shoots where just done in the garage..


Normally I use a person to hold the reflector..However you can also use.


http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...nator_Arm.html ( attach to a tripod - super useful product)


I have one light on ( at camera right).. it is a elinchrom with a small softbox on it.. this will provide the main light source, I'm not going in to a ton of details about how to set all that up.


However.. you're going to want to check or watch for a couple of things.


a.) that the back ground is dark so it go black or gray.. ( you will want at least 10 feet of room behind the model so the the light going past the model will fall off)
b.) you are going to want to shoot around. f8 to f11 and around ISO 100 or 200 - on some Nikons.
c.) you might need to use a flash light to focus on the model.. then turn to manual foucs. Autofocus camera suck in low light.. I just manually focused everything on my set ups.


Also.. you might have to look at the image in large size to see the detail


Ok.. so you have have a camera, light, and model.. ( no reflector yet)


you will get a shot like this.




http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2270/...4d138514df.jpg


Ok.. now.. what we really need to look at is depth and seperation. It has taken me a while to learn to really look at images, but once you can it is easier to see what needs to be done.


 


but here let me mark what I am looking at. It doesn't look bad however it doesn't look good either. It just looks cheap, trashy, and unprofessional to people who know how to fix it.Plus it is a 2 min fix to make it look MUCH better.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2343/...c491e5f8b3.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2090/...6d3de1899b.jpg


well now.. the quickest and easiest way to add that seperation is a reflector.


People ask why use a reflector and not another light.Well the nice thing about reflectors is that they change in relation to the main light, so for fill this works perfectly. If I wanted to change my main light from 50% power.. to 80% power.. and I had another light I would have to remeter the lights and change the fill light amount.. With a reflector, I don't have to do anything.. because it just reflects more light. It is simple and fast and works great.


With a reflector.. People often don't place it close enought. It need to be just out of frame.. but not very far away.


Look you can see how close the reflector is
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2111/...56c6ec8ac6.jpg


 


Now.. what does the reflector do to the image.


 
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2192/...ec639950e4.jpg


 


Here are some sample images. All created with a single light and a reflector. See if you can find where the reflector provides fill.


 


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2229/...6c545b4252.jpg


 


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3217/...824d20bac2.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3056/...04407a0d23.jpg


 


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2042/...321ca79476.jpg



http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3269/...8f554688f4.jpg


 


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2091/...a64d648a2d.jpg


 


So.. that is about as simple and as easy as it gets. One light, one model, one reflector and a ton of great pics. If you have questions or comments ( or I miss spelled something) e-mail me at ricyoung ( at )gmail.com.

good stuff!

may i ask one stupid question..
where do you point a flash light when you shoot?
(for example in pic#1)

Nice Tut !

Awesome Tut. Your one of the people I try and emulate when I shoot. I love your work.:thumbsup

Great shots!

Ok.. sorry it took me long to answer.. been a busy day..

Often.. when you are shooting in low light digital cameras have a hard time focusing.. So try to find something of high contrast to focus on ( black next to white, bright colors next to dark colors) also.. just point the flash light at the person.. focus.. ( if you want switch to manual focus mode) and then with out moving the camera too much. turn off the flash light..

most studio lights have modeling lights to see where the light is going.. this is good enough for the human eye.. however this is not good enough for the digital camera... so a small mag light works great.. just point it at the models face, focus, then turn off the light, and shoot..

My work is nothing special.. I am trying to really take it to the next level and tighten everything up, get my exposures, focus, contrast, and lighting all near perfect. It is hard because often adult companies would rather have a lot of bad pics.. then a few great pics.. but all in time.


if you have questions.. just e-mail me

Thanks,. I just learned something that will help me.

:)

Now I can go to bed:winkwink:

Awesome lil writeup dood... Save your graphics peoples hours of work and clean up with the steps above, and make your work look that much more pro...

Yea.. I need to a tutorial on how to not over exposure your white background by 2 stop and create flair in your lens.. that will save graphic artist hours of work when they have to cut things out.

I see it all the time..

A company will need a model.. on a white background.. and often photographers.. will OVER light the background so much.. that they get major flair in there lens.. and it lower contrast in the camera.. so they go in to photoshop.. and adjust contast.. and then there pics just look like shit.. the light bleeds on to the model.



here is an example I saw like 10 mins ago..
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2023/...9d347363_o.jpg

Cool tips Rich.. Thanks!