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Home » Photography Tutorials

How to Use a Reflector

By John Bosley 23 Comments

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In the world of photography, nothing happens without light. In most cases, there are two types of light that photographers work with: natural light and artificial light. Although I often find myself using artificial light sources, I prefer using natural light whenever possible and consider myself to be a natural light photographer. One of the tools that has made the biggest difference to my natural light photography (and, for that matter, studio photography) is a reflector. In this guide, I will show you how to use a reflector effectively to enhance your photographs by simply bouncing natural light.

Table of Contents

  • Choosing a Reflector
  • Using a Reflector
  • Natural Light
  • Artificial Light
  • Conclusions

1) Choosing a Reflector

If you have never purchased a reflector before, the options that you find once you start looking might be overwhelming. There are large and small reflectors. There are round, rectangular and triangular reflectors. There are white, gold and silver reflectors, as well as combinations of these three colors with names like Sunfire, SoftSilver, Zebra and Sparkling Sun.

One of the first things you’ll want to decide on is the size of reflector you’ll need. If you’re mainly shooting individual portraits, a smaller reflector might work better for you than a larger one. Of course, a larger reflector will generally produce a larger area of softer light, but larger reflectors are also more difficult to handle, so there is a compromise to be made. A 42″ reflector is a pretty common size that is a nice combination of ease of use and nice light.

Once you know the general size you’re looking for, you can start looking at different brands and shapes. You’ll find reflectors that have handles, brackets or frames. You’ll also find reflectors that don’t have any fancy features. You’ll usually pay a premium and have fewer options if you choose a reflector that has a handle or a frame, but the added ease of use might just make it worth the extra money.

Reflectors

Finally, you’ll have to choose what material you want your reflector to be. This is purely a personal preference, and it might change depending on the lighting conditions you’re working with. Personally, I prefer white or a white/silver mix. Unless it’s an overcast day, I find the silver to be too reflective and specular and the gold to be too warm. Fortunately, most reflectors come with covers made from different materials that you can quickly change depending on your needs.

2) Using a Reflector

There are just about as many ways to use a reflector as there are reflector options. You can hold it yourself, have an assistant hold it, have your subject hold it, lean it on something or buy a stand made specifically to hold it. You can even have your subject sit on it!

As with any light source, the larger it is relative to your subject, the softer the light is going to be. I prefer to use reflectors to provide a soft fill light, so I usually use the white or white/silver side and try to get them as close to my subject as possible. If there’s not a lot of light to work with and I have to use the silver side, I’ll move the reflector farther from my subject so the light doesn’t overpower the natural light and still just acts as a fill.

A reflector does just what it says: it reflects light. If you’re using a silver or gold side, do not let your subject look directly at it, especially in full sun! The last thing you want to do is temporarily blind them. Seeing where the light is landing when you’re using a gold or silver reflector is easy. When you’re using a white reflector it’s a little bit harder. The best method I have found for using a white reflector is to move it back and forth and watch the light on your subject. The change might be subtle, but you’ll be able to find the right angle for your reflector with a little practice.

Although it sounds obvious, if you’re having a hard time finding the reflected light on your subject, make sure that light is actually hitting the reflector. Many times a branch or even your subject will be casting a shadow on the reflector, greatly reducing how much light is being reflected.

3) Natural Light

Everyone will have their own preferences for how and when to use a reflector with natural light, but I’m going to tell you a few of the situations where I prefer to use one. I encourage everyone to experiment with different reflector materials and lighting situations to find out what works best for you.

The majority of my photos consist of backlighting. Before I started using reflectors, I just blew out the background and was happy. Once I started using reflectors I discovered I could start bringing a bit of the background back into my shots by decreasing the difference in exposure for my subject and background. For my backlit shots, whether it’s mid-day or the golden hour, I typically hold a white reflector right next to my face so it fills my subject with light that’s coming from almost directly in front of them.

How to use a reflector - backlight
NIKON D7000 + 85mm f/1.4 @ 85mm, ISO 200, 1/1250, f/2.8

How to use a reflector - backlight

Sometimes the light I’m working in is beautiful, but my subject has something dark underneath them that’s not reflecting any light back into their face. This typically happens with a black parking lot or grass. This can lead to dark shadows under their eyes. In this situation, I’ll put a large reflector in front of them on the ground or at an angle and make sure it’s as close to them as possible. In the first image of Mia, I leaned the top of the reflector on my legs and had the bottom touching her feet. Sometimes I’ll even have them sit on it, as in the second photo of Mallory below.

How to use a reflector - under
NIKON D800 + 85mm f/1.4 @ 85mm, ISO 200, 1/1000, f/1.4

How to use a reflector - sitting

If the light is just not very good, such as on a very overcast day, you’ll see lots of dark shadows around people’s eyes. In this situation I’ll put a reflector directly under my subject’s face, just out of the shot. In the image below, I had Bri hold the reflector just beneath her chest so that it filled in underneath her chin and eyes.

How to use a reflector - overcast
NIKON D800 + 85mm f/1.4 @ 85mm, ISO 400, 1/1000, f/1.4

Sometimes I even use my reflector as a key light. In the photos of Sunny below, he was standing in the shade with a nice rim light from the setting sun (the top image was my test image to get the correct background exposure). I wanted to keep the background darker, so instead of overexposing the image, I had his sister hold a large gold reflector so that he was lit by the reflected light and the background and rim light stayed the same (bottom image).

How to use a reflector - Shade test

How to use a reflector - Shade
NIKON D800 + 85mm f/1.4 @ 85mm, ISO 200, 1/4000, f/2.0

Sometimes I know that I should use a reflector but decide not to. In the images of Claire below, I knew that putting a reflector in the grass would ruin the effect I was going for. You can see in the top image how not a lot of light is being reflected into her eyes. I had to trust that I’d be able to bring some fill light into her eyes in post. The difference is subtle, but I’m glad I chose to shoot through the grass instead of smashing it down with a reflector.

How to use a reflector - no reflector

How to use a reflector - no reflector edit
NIKON D800 + 85mm f/1.4 @ 85mm, ISO 200, 1/3200, f/1.4

4) Artificial Light

When I’m shooting in the studio, I almost always find myself using a reflector. For something as simple as a headshot, instead of using multiple lights and getting the ratios between the lights just right, I just place a reflector on the opposite side of my subject from the key light. This automatically gives me a ratio-correct fill light that I know will directly track with any adjustments I make to the power of my key light. In the image of Renee below, I had a large softbox on camera left and a large reflector on camera right.

How to use a reflector - Studio

Another way to use a reflector with an artificial light source is to simply bounce the light off of it. There have been many occasions where I’ve been on location without a softbox, but I always travel with a reflector. In situations where I don’t have any light to reflect, I have been able to bounce a small flash like the SB-800 off of a large reflector to create a large, soft light source.

5) Conclusions

In my opinion, a reflector is about the cheapest, simplest, most versatile and most useful piece of lighting equipment you can purchase. As you can see, there aren’t really any limits to how you can use a reflector. With the variety of shapes, sizes and materials available, there’s surely one out there that’s right for you. In a future article, I plan to discuss finding and using natural reflectors while you’re shooting outdoors.

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Filed Under: Photography Tutorials Tagged With: Portrait Photography, Howto, Photography Tips, Reflector

About John Bosley

John Bosley is a wedding and portrait photographer in Denver who loves creating authentic, emotional images with his clients. He has a soft spot for functional antiques. You might see him writing with a fountain pen from his collection or shooting with one of his many film cameras. You can view his work on his website or see what he’s been up to lately on Instagram.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Robin Groenevelt
    June 7, 2013 at 1:12 pm

    Thanks for the info, useful. I was wondering, I never seen any discussions of which reflectors / flash modifiers are good to use by wedding photographers. In this case it has to be something that can be carried with many hours in a row, with lots of people around, while staying inconspicuous. Any thoughts on this?

    Reply
    • John Bosley
      June 7, 2013 at 2:25 pm

      Robin – Personally, I never use a reflector while I’m shooting a wedding. I look for good light and natural reflectors. I will admit that there are many times I’ve wished that I had a reflector, though. I mainly just don’t want to be bothered with one for the entire day. If I did bring one, I’d probably use my large 52″ white/silver round collapsible, find a place to stash it and only use it for the portraits and artistic photos of the bride and groom. Now, if I had an assistant to carry it around all day, I’d definitely have one with me at all times during every wedding. Unfortunately, I don’t. :) Thanks for reading!

      Reply
      • Robin Groenevelt
        June 7, 2013 at 2:35 pm

        Same here, I’ve never brought a reflector along. Instead I bring along a small soft-box that folds up nicely, I seldom use it though.

        As a reflector it’s the surrounding area, the black foamy thing to direct the light, and on an odd occasion a white shirt of one of the guest can come in handy. I’ve even used my own white shirt on a few shots (by shooting a second hand held flash against myself – useful to light up churches;)

        Reply
        • John Bosley
          June 7, 2013 at 4:03 pm

          Aah yes, the old shirt reflector trick. I’ve used a groomsman’s shirt to provide some fill light before. I’ve even considered unbuttoning my shirt and using my white undershirt for some reflected fill light, but have so far been able to find other options. :)

          Reply
      • Eric Duminil
        June 8, 2013 at 2:59 am

        At a wedding with 50 guests, you already have 50 potential assistants.
        I always bring a folded 5 sides reflector in my bag : kids love it when it opens, anyone can hold while you shoot pictures, it’s not a problem if it gets dirty or broken, and you can ask annoying guests to help you fold it while you take some pictures :D

        Reply
  2. Giedre
    October 2, 2014 at 6:38 am

    Thank you!
    Very nice article, easy to understand and well put together :)

    Reply
  3. Oluwatoyin
    October 5, 2014 at 4:07 am

    Very nice article! Really glad to have this as a beginner in photography

    Reply
  4. Victor
    January 11, 2015 at 3:14 pm

    Thanks for a great article. I will certainly attempt to use my reflectors more.

    Reply
  5. Hersheal
    March 27, 2015 at 11:29 am

    Superb article !

    Reply
  6. Shahana Akter
    July 30, 2015 at 3:59 am

    Very easy to understand this article. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

    Reply
  7. Ola
    August 1, 2015 at 4:11 pm

    Thanks! Great article helped alot!

    Reply
  8. Aatif Meer
    September 8, 2015 at 5:50 pm

    very great article and helped me alot infact am reading your all article on daily basis all are good and easy to understand

    thanks and God Bless you :)

    Reply
  9. Scotty
    January 31, 2016 at 3:47 pm

    When shooting outdoors, and I need to light my subjects face, I’m always blinding them (test subjects, no paying gigs yet) with the reflector. How do you light someone’s face without the reflector blinding them? I get move it down out of their eyes, but then their full face and eyes are not lit. Thanks!

    Reply
    • John Bosley
      February 1, 2016 at 9:09 am

      It sounds like you’re using a silver reflector. Those can be very bright. Personally, I usually use white and only use silver or gold when it’s overcast and there’s no direct sun since it can be very blinding with lots of sun. Otherwise, you can have an assistant stand farther away (just to the side of where your subject is looking) and hold the reflector to add a little extra light that shouldn’t blind your subject.

      Reply
  10. Mia Voss
    February 14, 2016 at 8:13 am

    Hi John! A friend just sent me this link and said “Look where I found you”. ;) LOVE your work!

    Reply
    • John Bosley
      February 16, 2016 at 9:32 am

      You pop up everywhere, Mia! :)

      Reply
  11. Karol O
    February 13, 2017 at 9:19 am

    Thank you – clear and very easy to understand and thank you too for adding them photos – always great to see visually what you are explaining.

    Reply
  12. harriet
    November 12, 2017 at 5:09 am

    which is the best size for a makeup shoot thanks?

    Reply
    • John Bosley
      November 13, 2017 at 9:51 am

      Harriet, it completely depends on how much of your subject you’re photographing. You could probably use a 36″ and be fine if you’re only photographing upper body or face only. If you have room and someone or something to hold it, a bigger one never hurts.

      Reply
  13. Bharath Puttur
    December 12, 2017 at 4:53 am

    Hi John

    It was a really helpful article.
    I was wondering as to what is the diffused white reflector used for? Is it just to shoot through or is that supposed to be combined with the gold / silver ones?

    Also, would it be a good idea to use one to reflect light from a remote speedlight, outdoors?

    Thank you.
    Bharath

    Reply
    • John Bosley
      December 12, 2017 at 9:37 am

      Hi Bharath,

      I’m glad you found it helpful! The white diffused reflector can be used to diffuse direct light falling on your subject, but is also the “core” for the metallic covers (they zip on top of it).

      You can try to use a reflector to bounce light from a speedlight. This works great indoors, but outdoors will be difficult if it’s a bright day. I’m not sure if you’ll get enough light bounced back to make much of a difference. If it’s an overcast day or near sunrise/sunset, it’s a great technique to use.

      Reply
  14. SUE McDonnell
    October 5, 2018 at 2:32 am

    I use a dlite 1 in the studio. It works great. My slide is on my left, the side with out the light is a bit darker. Would a reflector fix this problem?

    Thank you
    Sue.

    Reply
    • John Bosley
      October 8, 2018 at 2:04 pm

      Hi Sue, Using a reflector on the side without a light would definitely fix this problem. I use this setup all the time for headshots… one light with one reflector on the opposite side.

      Reply

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