Refelective Lighting

Most of us have taken images outdoors and indoors. We generally use flash indoors when the available light is such that it is a necessity. Unfortunately, in most cases that light source is on the camera or perched in the hot shoe. When you think about it though, the effect of that massive blast of light kills most of the nuances of the available light and the result is often quite flat or just plain uninteresting.

The play of light is often very subtle. We see the dominant but pay less attention to the subtle play of light as it bounces off of reflective objects to finally land on the most absorptive materials. Move one of those reflective sources and the whole landscape changes. We often look for that dominant light source and feature it as the node or focal point of our images.

What I am suggesting here is perhaps looking at the scene from a different perspective. Studying the nuances will open up different way of viewing your composition. When using available light you may start to play with multiple reflectors to change the ambiance of your image. Moving your reflected source just a few inches can change the final outcome significantly. This can even be more apparent when using flash sources and reflectors, mixing those with ambient light and adjusting them to your taste. Even a half of a stop will have an effect that can prove to be dramatic.

What are your feelings about how you approach light and how do you think you can enhance your vocabulary?

I need a couple of slaves to hold up polished gold mirrors for me, I can't find either

My approach to light? My lenses force it to 'there isn't enough getting to my sensor' . Mine, I don't actually have a clue at the moment. I can get composition, Dof, framing, etc, but light still eludes me, made worse by shadows

There is nothing to beat natural light in all its glorious and infinite possibilities.

if the light is at the end of a dark tunnel, I keep well away from it, I wouldn't approach it at !!

to enhance my vocabulary I would read a thingummybob, you know the one with the alternative things in.



when I'm out with a camera, I do indeed notice the interplay of light, I try to capture what I think I see but I'd need a 'mighty big reflector' to make any changes to landscapes. And then I'd probably use the wrong colour!

When I'm out on local press jobs 98% of the time it's flash needed,so I carry a white board from a Metz bounce flash attachment ( which broke after a short while, being only plastic ! ) and hold that at an angle to my Metz flash head and I get some very nice lighting on the people, better then the results from all the other local press snappers with Nikon and Canon gear and flashes which cost double mine ! I also use it outdoors sometimes when I use fill-in flash.