The Dark side of the reflector

Hi all, 

Because I noticed I have a lot of international visitors to my blogs I am going back to full english on the blogs! This week I want to show a little tip on using a 5-in-1 reflector while working with natural Light. 

Last week I was working with the Leica M Monochrom on a shoot. It was around 5 o'clock and the sun was still harsh. I was photographing a model in a three, but I had some hard lighting to work with. The dynamic range was a challenge. The models face was in the shade of the leaves but on the back of the model I had some very hard sunlight. Resulting in an underexposed model or overexposed accents on the back of the model. To even out the dynamic range I tried two approaches 

Leica M Monochrom met Leica Summarit 75mm 2.4. Iso 320 / f4,0 / 1/500 (un-editted)

Silver reflector

The first thing I tried was to bounce back light in the front of the model with a silver reflector. With bouncing back light the dynamic range was getting smaller. This way I could keep a little more detail in he background. But because the reflector couldn’t catch enough light, I still couldn’t close down the gap in the dynamic rang enough for my taste. 

Leica M Monochrom met Leica Summarit 75mm 2.4. Iso 320 / f3,4 / 1/350 (un-editted)

The Black side of the reflector

To really close down the gap in the dynamic range I decided to put the reflector on the other side. And with the blackside facing the model blocking the sun. This way no direct sunlight was hitting the model. Resulting in an even lighting of the model. The background was blowing out a little bit now, but not to much that is was distracting. It even helped focussing more in the model.

Leica M Monochrom, Summarit 75mm 2.4 op 1/125 / f4.8 / iso 320