Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Cheap Reflectors

I was playing around with an egg and a snoot a while back when my cat Daisy decided to check out what was going on.  I was trying to get light on just one side, the other I wanted to be totally dark.  My subject was too small or my snoot too broad, so I never really achieved my initial objective (to drain the swamp!... sorry, part of one of my favorite sayings) Though this image has taught me a lesson.  It's not a new lesson, but drove the message home.  Anything white can be a reflector.  The egg reflects light on to my retro 80's speckled table, which yes, I bought new when it was in vogue...

I digress, back to the light.  The touch of light kissing the egg reflected from Daisy's white patch has made me love this accidental shot.  I was experimenting, but it taught me how valuable a cheap reflector, white Tee Shirt or sheet can be when light is precious.  Going back to yesterday's morning post, when I was posing my wife and daughter for the First Bottle shot, I tried to get as much white from the hospital blanket and spread out the white drip cloth to get as much surface as possible to reflect the window light back toward my daughter's face.  White "high test" Simulac as we called it helped too.  White reflects the whole color spectrum, while black absorbs, like a light diaper.  (sorry, next thing you know I'll be talking about Wee Pee's, which any Preemie parent will know what I'm talking about!)  So my advice for today is once you "See the Light", start looking for ways to not only use it, but enhance and modify it.

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