curved reflector

[texxter]

Some friends came over and we did some portraits for the lady after dinner. Here is a snapshot for your C&C. I will probably crop a little to remove the arm to frame left. And I am not totally happy with the frontal position of her upper body - however I liked the expression on this one, so I kept it.

Lighting: a large Litedome Photoflex in horizontal position about 2 feet above her head, centered on her face. A homemade curved silver reflector under her chin, and a slim softbox 3 feet above and a little behind her as a hairlight.

I am trying my home made curved reflector for the first time here - I really like the curved catchlight at the bottom of her irisis, but I need to modify the surface, as I think the metal reflection is too contrasty. I made this reflector with a piece of roof flashing, about 1 foot wide and three long, placed on two light stands and curved under the model. I will post a picture of it.

[kula23]

wow look at her eyes! i like it. do show your homemade curve. :)

[Lexie]

Very nice! Your homemade equipment works well. Yes, Please do share a picture of the set-up.

[texxter]

Here are two pics of the reflector and one of the entire setup.

The material is rolled-up sheet metal used for roofing. It comes in different widths and lengths. I cut it with metal scissors, folded the short edges and taped the long ones. These sheets are very sharp so be careful handling them. The three layers of electrical tape seem to be holding fine and the folded edges are smooth.

[texxter]

Another tip - those black rolled up thingies on the floor are my light stand weights - they are actually ankle weights from Wal-mart, I picked up a pack of 2, the heaviest one they carry and they work great because they come with Velcro and I can roll them around the lightstand - I picked this up from a fellow photographer, I don't recall who, or I would give him credit. They fold flat, which is another plus.

[BWangPhoto]

It is called the Eyelighter...Larry Peters has been using this for years:

http://www.jloriginals.com/Catalog-Eyelighter.html

[texxter]

My version doesn't have name, just "piece of curved sheet metal" acting as a reflective device. And definitely low budget! If I had $480 for a curved reflector to use every once in a while I'd gladly pay for an Eyelighter. Thanks for the URL!

Edit - found some more discussion on this after I posted here: http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/650939

[kula23]

Awesome you are so kind to share! I can't buy for $480 :O

[ThiNguyen]

The picture looks good. Does it matter that it is home make or commercial? But I have seen the curve reflector at a studio before. I thought that it curves around the subject. The outer arch is larger than the inner arch of the reflector. It is like you cut a parallel piece from a side of a cone.

Thi

[texxter]

Thi, it could very well be! I just did something simple and cheap, I am sure it can be improved in many different ways, all the way up to $480! :-)

[shifter48]

Nice pic...Neet reflector...will have to make one to use on the pottery shots. Maybe I can get rid of some of the hot spots on some of the high gloss surfaces...thx for the idea.

Gregg

[texkam]

need to modify the surface

You're thinking a white surface I suppose? Pretty.

[texxter]

Originally Posted by texkam

You're thinking a white surface I suppose? Pretty.

Not sure, I have plenty of material left to experiment. I was thinking of using some sort of white glue, or WhiteOut, to paint a white grid on the metal so that I would still keep 60% of the original reflectance. I could also place a fine grid over it and spray white paint, so that the grid's open spaces let paint thru. I have no idea what this would do, but it's cheap enough to try.

Another idea is to take one of my Photoflex reflective surfaces from panels and rubber band it to the metal. Or something.

I just think bare metal, without any corrugation is too harsh.

Here is another image where I used the contraption.