Reflectors & Diffusers Video Lecture | Capture like a Pro: Digital Photography Tutorial - Professional Skills

direct sunlight can be super
unflattering it shows every pore and
cast really ugly shadows and Tony you
have a solution for that for 20 bucks
you can get a kit that includes
diffusers and reflectors and we're going
to show you how to use all of them up
first the diffuser which casts a very
flattering shadow basically you want to
hold it between your subject and the Sun
now it becomes a light source itself
taking the light from the Sun and
spreading it out across the entire width
of this so it becomes a very big
flattering light and you have to
communicate constantly with the
photographer to let the assistant
holding the diffuser know it's not in
the frame moving closer or farther
changes the quality of the light but the
diffuser is pretty easy to use usually
you just want to keep it the subject
right in the shade so that's with the
diffuser and that's without the diffuser
all right else flip this around and you
have yourself a black reflector which is
not at all a reflector some people call
it a scrim or gobo but basically it just
absorbs all light and casts shade a
little more perfectly whereas the
diffuser bounces light across that light
source and does create some cache light
and fill light this creates just shade
so it's portable shape and as you can
see as I hold it in front of Chelsea the
shade is much much deeper causing the
background to be relatively much
brighter and you can see she doesn't
completely disappear even though she's
in shade and said she's illuminated only
by the ambient light light bouncing off
the atmosphere or light bouncing off the
grass and the ground as you can see you
on her face she actually gets a green
color cast I can't be flattering nope
that greens there the whole time but
it's overwhelmed by the sunlight
normally another use for this is to
actually use it to block reflections
from grass creating an ugly color cast
now let's talk about reflectors instead
of going between your subject and the
light source you use for your reflector
to capture the light and then bounce it
back onto your subject the white side
will cast a softer light
and not bounce back is much like but it
shows less imperfections and is a bit
more flattering the closer you get with
the reflector the more light you're
going to be sending in the subject
should have the light reflected right
onto their face and in fact it might
even get to be a little bit blinding
that just means you're doing it right if
they can see the light that it's hitting
their face properly in this situation
the white side actually isn't enough so
I would switch to the silver side which
would give you more light but it's
harder so it's a bit less flattering but
it will provide more fill let's try the
silver side wait there it is yeah there
you go get up in the back a little so as
you can see you have to bend and tilt
your reflector until it's properly
lighting your subject which can be
difficult because the silver is so
reflective any little variation in the
position of the reflector can cause
drastic changes on your subjects face
that means picture to picture could be
very different depending on who's
holding it it's a really tough job to be
holding the reflector it's uncomfortable
too let's also try the gold side here
Tony will switch the gold side adds some
warmth to your photo it's similar to the
light quality of the silver side but I
don't think that the warmth that it
provides is that natural so I don't
usually use it but I'll show you anyway
looks pretty nice actually look like
you're in the sunset blinding me how do
you feel about it blind spot smile so I
can see if it makes your teeth golden
your teeth have a tan in some cases you
can actually have your model hold D
reflector to bounce light up from
beneath and sometimes they'll just throw
a little curve in there and again if
they can see the reflection of the light
then it's working properly
that's with and that's without
the closer you get the reflectors of the
subject without getting it in the frame
the more light you'll capture but what
if you don't have an assistant you can
get an expensive stand but maybe they
don't work so great you got a sandbag
there yeah otherwise the wind will catch
it it becomes a big sail still might
have problems with the wind especially
if you need to get above your subject it
gets nice and tall but it could be real
flimsy and kind of flaky and this is the
challenge with these stands as you can
see the wind is catching it and pushing
it towards me so they work better
indoors than outdoors outdoors you
pretty much need an assistant to help
you out there are other benefits to
having a person over a stand - like what
well it's easy to give a person
direction and just have them move it
rather than having the stand do it mmm
could you move that down a little lower
lower you're right this doesn't work
hope you found this useful and you
decide to integrate reflectors and
diffusers and you're shooting the $20
investment will give you a lot more than
buying a $5,000 camera kit I promise for
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enjoy how do we have so many helicopters
here is good that I know you never
noticed until you film just how much of
course it is you could have that carry
your reflector