Have just got a couple of the 500W flood lamps on a tripod (about $us25, amazing value for 2 of these lamps on a good sturdy tripod - Bunnings have them at AUS$38 for any Aussies out there).
Next phase is to get some reflectors. I am going to get a couple, as they are dirt cheap, of the silver whatsits you put in car windows to reflect out the heat. Easy.
However, I also want to make myself a couple of the silver umbrella reflectors. Has anyone tried to do this? I am wondering if I spray a standard umbrella with silver paint will it work or will the paint just crack off when the umbrella is folded.
Have just got a couple of the 500W flood lamps on a tripod (about $us25, amazing value for 2 of these lamps on a good sturdy tripod - Bunnings have them at AUS$38 for any Aussies out there).
Next phase is to get some reflectors. I am going to get a couple, as they are dirt cheap, of the silver whatsits you put in car windows to reflect out the heat. Easy.
However, I also want to make myself a couple of the silver umbrella reflectors. Has anyone tried to do this? I am wondering if I spray a standard umbrella with silver paint will it work or will the paint just crack off when the umbrella is folded.
Any experience anyone?
Anybody ever try one of those silver windshield reflectors that are design for cars?
I have a set of the collapsable car windsheild reflectors that I use to bounce and reflect light onto a subject. Ill set my flash or photoflood lamp up on one side, and use the reflector on the otherside to bounce light back onto the shadow areas. A white umbrella is good to use for portraits also. Shoot your light right thru the umbrella for a nice diffused and even light.
I wouldn't consider this a long term solution, but a week ago I needed some bounced light - so I found a sturdy piece of scrap cardboard and wrapped it in aluminum foil... it worked great!
When I worked as a photo assistant, one of my jobs was to be the reflector card holder, a job that could really suck if it was very windy at all. Some guys would use pre-made cards and specially made reflectors that folded up like the windshield reflectors and were gold on one side and silver on the other. The gold warms up skintones wonderfully. With others, it looked like they had raided the scrap bin at the local art school. One guy actually used the white cardboard pizza box from the pizza we had for lunch.
For studio work I used to have a bunch of little reflectors from the size of a large postage stamp to about 11"x14" that I would use. you can really use just about anything, even BLACK cardboard (see kiwi's winning science photo)
The one thing I like about the umbrella idea, in addition to the car windscreen things, is that with the umbrella I can easily fix it to the flood lamps. The car windscreen things I see more as sitting on the ground (as my "assistant" gets tetchy if I ask him to hold anything for more than 23 seconds as there is an x-box game he urgently NEEDS to be playing).
