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Using a Reflector in photography – Photography podcast #30

Photography podcast #30 is all about how to use reflectors to better your photography. We focus on common types of reflectors, when to use them as well as why reflectors are an essential item‚for every‚photographer’s toolkit.The following photographs illustrate how effective a reflector can be to add light to subjects that are in shadow or that need a little extra boost of light. Note how especially the eyes of both my boy (Ziglet the cat) and my wife (posing in ‘Pulp Fiction’ style)‚receive extra illumination and become much more vibrant when a reflector is used. Note that the exposure DID NOT change for any of the reflected/unreflected shots. I also did not do any manipulation whatsoever in a graphics program as I wanted to clearly illustrate the effects of changing only 1 variable. (adding a reflector) You can click the photographs to enlarge them.

You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player below this set of images.‚


Ziglet – No reflector

Ziglet – With reflector – Eyes and face are vibrant

Ziglet – No reflector

Ziglet with reflector doing its job in the photo

Carmy – No reflector

Carmy – With reflector – Eyes and face are vibrant

Carmy with reflector doing its job in the photo

New segment in the podcast – Photography.ca – Photo of the week -
This week, the photograph is by Arkady Renko and I comment in the podcast on why I think this photograph is fantastic.

Photography by Arkady Renko

Other photography links mentioned in this podcast;
Flickr
Leading lines in photography
The rule of thirds in photography

Thanks as always for the comments by‚Bekka, Al and Norm‚on our previous podcast‚where we Interviewed‚fine art photographer Rafael Goldchain. We LOVE comments and suggestions so please send more.

Comments

  1. Gary says:

    Reflectors are wonderful, they give you additional light sources very cheap. I have been using lightright reflectors for 22 years, because when I first started I could only afford one light source (a kinda soft box) The reflectors just work. LightRIGHTreflector.com

    GB

  2. admin says:

    Hey thanks for the compliment Norm!
    TOTALLY – you must try reflectors, they are amazing and you’ll notice a BIG difference especially if you’ve been using on camera flash to light your subjects.

    Small basic reflectors (COLLAPSIBLE) are cheap and should range in price from about 20 to 60 dollars depending on sizes that I talked about in the podcast. I’m going to try to put up links to buy in the next few days.

  3. Norm says:

    Congratulations on the 30th podcast, we’ll have to see about those pearls though…
    Anyways, great show, I appreciated how you described different objects that you’ve used as as reflectors when in a pinch. I’ve never used one before but I’m excited to give it a try. Do you know an average price for a small basic reflector? I live in QuÆ’‚©bec so the prices you would find would likely be similar for me.

    Thanks! keep up the great shows!

Trackbacks

  1. [...] underexposure – shutter-speeds – using shadows creatively – wide angle lenses – posing models – using reflectors – studio setups for beginners – cheap macro photography – one light portraits – low-light [...]

  2. [...] Thanks again to Norm for his comment on last week’s podcast reflectors in photography. New segment again this week – PHOTO OF THE WEEK This week, the photograph is by Zseike and I comment in the podcast on why I think this photograph is fantastic. [...]

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