Just one white reflector.
When I’m teaching either with my online class with the PPSOP, or with my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, students are always asking me the best way to use fill flash when shooting portraits outdoors. I have a simple and quick response to them.
I tell them that in my forty-two year career, I’ve never, and I mean not once used fill flash outdoors. I don’t even like to use it indoors. I can honestly say that I’ve never missed it because my portraits do just fine without it. So, you’re thinking, what do I do?
Here’s my set-up. How much simpler can you get?
I use a collapsible reflector with white on one side and silver on the other. 90% of the time I use the white side. I’ll occasionally use a larger piece of Foam-board when I have a larger area to cover, as in a full length shot. All I ever need is a stand that won’t fall over, an A-clamp, and a reflector. It’s a hell of a lot easier than figuring out ratios when I’m losing the light. Why complicate my life? There’s enough things I have no control over that does a good job messing with my head. Why cloud it up even more with something that I love and have control over.
It’s unbelievable how many times I see an outdoor portrait lit with a flash. It’s a look that’s been beaten to death, and usually the photographer doesn’t know what he or she is doing which makes it worse. I realize it’s a matter of personal preference, and for me I like a natural look. The kind of look that has never gone out of style and never will.
Take a look at some of my portraits lit with only a white reflector or a larger piece of foam-board:
Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out my 2012 workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.
Don’t forget to send me a question or an image to talk about at: AskJoeB@gmail.com
JoeB
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Very good article, however I am just am beginning to use supplementary light and it would be very helpful to know where the reflector was placed for each photo. John
John,
Look at where the light is on the large photo at the top. Imagine the reflector just out of the frame on the left side of the camera. I only have it bouncing light on one side of her face so there’s shading…which gives depth.
In all the photos where the light is brighter on one side, that’s the side I would put the reflector just outside of the frame. If you look at the light in the photo of the girl tying her roller blades, the light is behind her and there’s not one side that’s brighter than the other. The reason is that i have a large reflector outside the frame but more to the middle just next to my camera, and bouncing light evenly back at her.
JoeB
Thanks!
JoeB
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