Reflector v Flash, Oct 2018 Adobe Updates, Shooting Basketball
Master Photography - A podcast by Master Photography Team
Categorie:
Reflector or flash to fill in shadows on an outdoor portrait shoot? What’s new with Adobe Lightroom Classic CC 8.0 and Adobe Photoshop CC 20? What are the basic tips for photographing indoor basketball?
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Episode Resources:
Bug Fixes in Lr CC 8.0: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/kb/fixed-issues.html
Lr CC 8.0 New Features: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/help/whats-new.html
Ps CC 20.0 New Features: https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/features.html
Is it better to use reflector fill or flash?
We had a great question come up in the Master Photography Facebook group that I wanted to start with today, trying to balance out the technical discussion we will have about the Adobe updates.
Michael Cotton: “For on location outdoor senior or general portrait sessions do you prefer a reflector for fill light on the subject or an off camera softbox with a flash and why? Thanks and love the podcast.”
Nick, you are known as Lord Page for your landscape photography, but you have also done a whole lot of portrait photography in your time. While I have an opinion here for sure, I want to give you a chance to answer Michael’s question first.
Nick: Reflectors can be nice in low light situations, but when reflecting bright light sources, they have some pretty big drawbacks. Squinting client… tough to get the angle just right sometimes. For most situations I much prefer flash, but reflectors are nice when all your trying to do is get a little light in the eyes.
Jeff: I remember very well going through the various stages of photography. At first I was saying to potential clients that I am a natural light photographer and justifying to them and myself that it made me more agile. I didn’t have to worry about all of this lighting gear and we could really emphasize getting good poses, good composition, good smiles, etc. The results were pretty good, I learned how to utilize the natural light really well and created good portraits that clients were very happy with, but I really knew it could be better with more fill light.
So I graduated to using a reflector because flash was scary and reflectors were dirt cheap. So I was still a natural light guy but now I was blinding my clients as we were shooting portraits. Not a good thing when the models are putting the hard up in front of their face to shield their eyes from that massive amount of light.
I finally took the plunge and set out into flash photography and just like you hear from pretty well any good portrait photography, I am a full convert to flash for good portraits – no matter the shooting environment indoors our outdoors.
More control over the lighting and doesn’t make the models for the portrait feel like they have to cover their eyes because there is this very bright thing in the way. Harder to make sure the reflector is properly reflecting the light. Harder to have a helper work with you on holding the reflector just right as the sun moves. Much less creative control over where you pose your model because you have to make sure you can get good reflection of the sunlig...