Focus On Lighting Photos Focus on the Fundamentals.pdf

Having the foam board white on
one side and silver on the other
allows us to switch it back and
forth. Sometimes we want the
silver side, sometimes the white
side. As we mentioned earlier,
that’s not the only advantage of
the Mylar, though. The Mylar is
extremely tough stuff. Score the
board with a razor blade or a
sharp knife on the white side.
Make the score exactly in the
center and use a metal straightedge
to guide the cut. Then bend
the board in half.
Now we can store the reflector
in half the space and carry
it in a vehicle half as big. The
silver Mylar that holds the board
together will bend and unbend
essentially forever. We suspect
that archeologists unearthing our
civilization centuries from now
will find photographers’ bounce
cards, dirty but intact.
The umbrella
The big bounce card, along with
a few smaller ones, is the most
useful and cheapest reflector a
photographer can have, but it
certainly is not always the most
practical to store or to carry.
If we can spend a little more
money, we certainly also want an
umbrella.
We don’t think anyone knows
which photographer first thought
of this idea. Almost certainly
he used an ordinary white
umbrella designed to keep rain
off peoples’ heads, plus some
sort of jerry-rigged arrangement
of clamps and tape to hold the
umbrella, the light, and a light
stand together. Today we have
several umbrella designs made
specifically for photography.
A well-equipped professional
photographer will have at least
one of each design, possibly in
several sizes. A serious amateur
Tools: Now We Have Light, but How Do We Get It under Control? 37