Reflector Use Question

[drisley]

I've seen some really beautiful lighting using just a backlit sun and a large reflector. I really love this idea as the reflectors are so portable and lite. I have a nice 4x3 5in1 reflector that I tried a few years ago, but the models complained it was blinding them.

Is there a trick to reflecting the light, especially with the silver reflector, filling in the face shadows, without blinding the models?

Any good tips?

A fav photographer of mine uses a large silver reflector for almost all of his outdoor pics.
http://www.michaelpalmer.com/portfolio/fitness.html

[hawk911]

yup- don't use silver! If you have to use silver, you could pull back a lot farther. Try using either the gold or white side.

[drisley]

Thanks Hawk.
One of my fav photogs uses silver exclusively for all his outdoor shoots. I really love the skin tones from his work but have no idea how he gets it in post.
He uses a huge reflector, so I guess that allows him to be quite a ways away without blinding his subjects.

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/2641/palmer.jpg

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/4825/palmershootreflector.jpg

The final results....
http://www.michaelpalmer.com/portfolio/fitness.html

.

[hawk911]

obviosuly angle will be important too. I have a 48x60 oval that I use, but rarely use the silver. Again-distance to subject. Michael's stuff doesn't have the sharp highlights a close-in silver would cause. If he did a behind the scenes, you might see he's back 10 feet or more

[drisley]

Thanks Hawk 911, the 2 above images are behind the scenes pictures from his shoots.

[hawk911]

can't see them from work; sorry

Looked from home. He has the reflector a good 8-10 feet at least. That softens the hotspot it would cause if the reflector were 3-4 feet away.

[drisley]

Ok, thanks Hawk911. So I also guess the larger the better because a smaller reflector would have to be in close and cause that "hotspot".

I have a 36x48" that might be too small for full body shots like this eh?

Btw, anybody have any input on how MP can get his beautiful skin tones? That's something even with 12 years of PS experience I can't create. Maybe that will be a post for the PP section.

Thanks again Hawk911 for taking the time to respond.

[int2str]

Btw, anybody have any input on how MP can get his beautiful skin tones? That's something even with 12 years of PS experience I can't create.

Judging from his portfolio, I think his trick is to only shoot beautiful people! :)

[drisley]

Yeah, that doesn't hurt either. :)

Although, I've met and shot a few of the people in his portfolio, and they look incredible when he's snapping the pics.

[richardyoung]

1,2,3 open your eyes..

[hawk911]

Yeah, that doesn't hurt either. :)

Although, I've met and shot a few of the people in his portfolio, and they look incredible when he's snapping the pics.

Don't discount the amazing skill of a great makeup artist either.

[drisley]

Don't discount the amazing skill of a great makeup artist either.
Yeah that helps. That's something I used to take for granted but won't again. But for most of the people in MP's profile, they just do their own makeup. The blonde on the top left for example, she just did her own basic makeup and that's it (the same for some of the people below that I know). His post processing is brilliant (yet he says basic and very fast).

[drisley]

1,2,3 open your eyes..
Vanilla Sky? :)