I know the basic idea is not new, I saw it more than 3 years ago, right here on this forum.
What I think might be new is the method to my madness, and I thought that I am probably not the only cheap bastiche here on the forum
So I took the idea of white, foam-core posterboard as a reflector and modified it a bit. I found, at my local craft store, gold and silver project posterboard and glued a sheet of each to a sheet of white. That gives me a sheet with gold on one side, white on the other, and a sheet of silver on one side, white on the other.
With me so far? Here is where it gets fun.
I started thinking about ways of positioning the board without a helper. I have a single light stand/umbrella stand and I need that for the second flash.
I have an old, uber-cheap aluminum tripod that never worked well. It was free, used once and stuck in a closet. Starting with that, I decided that the head was worthless and could be discarded and that it wasn't really tall enough for what I wanted. I needed a pole to stick into the neck of the tripod to extend the height.
Enter the Swiffer. Yes, a Swiffer. That cheap, floor cleaning product with disposable heads. The rod on the swiffer is segmented and each segment is about a foot long. They screw together and would give me an adjustable extension!.
Oh, and I never considered that the AF on my camera would absolutely HATE the shiney surface and refuse to focus correctly, so no whining about the blurry picture.
Enough words, on with the crappy pics.
Gold
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Silver
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Top attachment point
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Bottom
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Now for the tricky part... DOUBLES!
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In addition to height, we have rudimentary angle control. More possible with string or longer bungies on the bottom.
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Collapsed, fits easily in my tripod/equipment bag.
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No, it probably won't stand up in a stiff breeze, but I planned it for home use.
Feel free to ask about the constructions, my mental health, etc.
I haven't actually tried it yet as my model is at work, but will post an update when I finally get a chance to actually use it.


