The Magical Power of Photographic Reflectors and Why cannot You do without them

Reflectors are amazing photographic equipments that can help you to solve most of your natural light photography issues. They are the ones that give your subject a bright, spotless look. As the name suggests, they reflect the direct sunlight falling on them and direct them towards your subject to illuminate him/her along with covering up the shadows. Although they are frequently used for outdoor photography, these photographic equipments also have an important place in studios as well.

When you photograph your model in sunlight, you must make her stand with her back towards the sun. This will give your background a great look but the model will get a lot of shadows on her front side. To combat this, you will have to light your subject from the front side. Since you already have so much light available in the surrounding, instead of using any artificial source you can direct the existing light towards your subject. This is where you would need the help of a reflector for photography.

Position your reflector towards the light source so that light falls on it and bounces back towards the subject who is standing in front of the reflector. For best effect, place it as close to the subject as you can without interfering with the shot. Always take your colleague or assistant’s help for holding it at an accurate position. If you have no one at your help, attach it onto a tripod. Reflectors come in many colors such as gold, silver, white, translucent, and black. Each color has its own significance and therefore, you must choose the most appropriate color as per your requirement. The gold one is perfect to add some warm look to your subject. The silver one reflects most of the light falling on them thereby increasing the brightness of the subject. For simply filling the shadows, use the white one; whereas if you feel the light is more than enough, use a translucent one between your subject as well as sun to restrict some of it.

Reflectors are of various shapes and sizes, such as circular reflectors, umbrella reflectors, etc. Anything that can bounce off light can be used as a light modifier. However, do not choose anything that can actually spoil your work. For example; never use a tin foil, even if it can reflect a good amount of light. This is because; tin foil reflections can actually cause inconvenience to your subject. Professional reflectors are advisable, as they are designed to give you best results.