Does white foam board work as well as a white collapsible reflector?

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Bryanpic114

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Hi

I thought I should start a thread on this rather than ask it in the other post to get some more answers. Does white foam board reflect light the same as a white collapsible reflector? (white reflector with the ones with the mix of gold, silver, translucent, etc). Or is one better than the other?

And is there a way to make gold and silver reflectors out of foam board? Thanks again everyone for your help.
 
Foam should work well. You could make silver version by glueing creased foil to it. Gold foil would be harder to find.

You decision depends on the availability of materials, and their support. Reflector requires a holder or an assistant. Foam would be easier to support on the ground, but harder to get the right angles, etc.
 
Almost all my modifiers are made of foam board, since I used to live miles from anywhere and getting big stuff posted is a pain. It all seems to work fine, and I've mixed foam boards with purpose made white reflectors without noticing much difference.
 
I used a carboard reflector for years, about 2x3ft. White one side and kitchen foil spay glued to the other. Perfect :)
 
HoppyUK you never found the need to have a gold or translucent or goldish silver color for a reflector?
 
Foam is std studio kit in 8x4 or 8x2 sheets, dosn't fold to well in the field though...

You can even paint with blackboard paint on other side for light deadening effect (if doing coat with PVA 1st or paint wont stick)

Al'
 
Bryanpic114 said:
HoppyUK you never found the need to have a gold or translucent or goldish silver color for a reflector?
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Gold?! :eek: Heck no. Never. Horrible. Gel the flash if you want to give someone an unpleasant fake suntan, or tweak it in post processing.

Transluscent is not so much a reflector, more a shoot-through to create a soft light from a hot-shoe gun or something.
 
I did see some instructions for a home made softbox which used a gold mylar space blanket for the inner surface, which can be had for pennies if you did want a gold reflector.

Although beware that mylar is highly flammable apparently!
 
mrdaviesuk said:
I did see some instructions for a home made softbox which used a gold mylar space blanket for the inner surface, which can be had for pennies if you did want a gold reflector.

Although beware that mylar is highly flammable apparently!
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Just run the London marathon, you get one for free!!!
 
I use foam board indoors sometimes but it does break quite easily and is no good outside. The collapsable reflectors are very cheap on eBay and pretty good you can get them in all sizes and a 3ft one will only set you back about £8. I also have a 6ft x4ft 5 in one that I got for £20 I believe. Bye the way I also use old slide projector screens as reflectors, you can often pick them up at boot sales for a fiver and they have a built in tripod stand as a bonus!
 
For studio-use, I made my own from foam tiles stuck to thin plywood for my smaller reflectors and marine-spec 8-ply on home-made stands with some old castors on for the larger 8'x3' reflectors - those were matt-white on one side and matt-black on the other.
 
Need large sheets of gold foil? try those emergency blankets you can buy in outdoors shops, the kind you see marathon runners wearing at the end of races.
 
Steep said:
Need large sheets of gold foil? try those emergency blankets you can buy in outdoors shops, the kind you see marathon runners wearing at the end of races.
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And some sticky-velcro...that way you can attach it easily to pre-made white/black board reflectors if required - I still think not enough people realise how useful black reflectors are...
 
The late Dean Collins using a black panel for "negative fill":

diffusionpanel.jpg
 
Does anyone use gold reflectors at all?
I'm still struggling to find a use for mine.
 
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