Bounce reflector from recycled cardboard
A quick note to share a great source of material for making reflectors. White paper or card is fine for DIY reflectors, but usually a bit floppy. Cardboard is stiffer, and easy to get hold of, but the normal brown colour doesn’t reflect enough light. I discovered a perfect material being thrown away at work a few days ago – silver-backed cardboard used for packaging that contains dry ice. Not the easiest thing to get hold of, but if there’s a university with a biology department nearby, it might be worth keeping an eye out. Here’s a sheet that I nabbed from the recycling bin:
And here’s it in use, on a quick portrait of my willing subject, Molly. Photos are taken with a Pentax k100D, 50mm lens at f/1.7, raw conversion using Bibble with no altered settings.
Without reflector:
With reflector. Much nicer, and look at the lovely catchlight in her eyes:
Here’s an uncropped version of the above, showing the cardboard wedged behind the sofa cushion.
It occurs to me that the cardboard might also be ideal for making a DIY softbox, as it’s only reflective on one side – I’ll write up another post if I do so.
PS Selling a digital camera? Check out this article on my new blog – 10 tips for selling a digital SLR camera.
May 14th, 2009 at 10:26 am
I found your blog via Google while searching for recycling cardboard what type, thank you for posting reflector from recycled cardboard | Red Row Studio!