Technical Tuesday - Using A Reflector On An Overcast Day

It was rainy and gross here today.  The clouds were out, everything was muddy and I thought it would be a perfect time to try out a technique for Technical Tuesday.

We all use reflectors in broad daylight to fill in shadows from harsh sunlight (which I love), but we don't often use them in overcast or rainy days.  So here's a comparison of what its like using one versus not using one on a rain drenched day.

There was no reflector used here and in fact for the sake of showing, I made absolutely no adjustments to any of these images.  These photographs won't move mountains but they will illustrate the differences in the techniques.

You can see how much weaker the shadows are here and the subject pops from the background a lot more.

No reflector used here either.

Using the reflector really smooths the skin tones out here too.  The dark circles under the eye are almost completely removed.

No reflector used here.

Another benefit to using a reflector is getting a catch light in the eye.  Because its an overcast day you get that anyways, but you can use one just to make a catch light.  You don't even need to aim the reflection at the subject, just hold it up and if the eye can see it, it will show it.

Really even lighting isn't something that I do.  I typically like the light to be a little hard with good strong shadows.  Unlike a lot of photographers I don't shy away from shooting in broad daylight.  So this may not be a technique that I use often but its a good tool to have.

I suppose a should tell you a little bit about using the reflector.  The reflector that I use is 36".  It has a cover for it that has 4 colors.  Gold, silver, black and white.  The reflector itself is a translucent white.  All the images here were shot with the white cover for its soft reflective quality.  Had I wanted a harder edgier look I would have used the silver reflector and if I had wanted it warmer with hard light I would have used the gold cover.

On a day like today you don't have to worry about the direction you're reflecting so much because the light that is available isn't directional.  Its soft and coming from everywhere.  You pretty much just hold the reflector up close to the subject and reap the benefits.

If it were sunny outside you need to find the direction of the sun and bounce it back into the subjects face or rim light them with it.  You can choose where you make that light land.

Reflectors can be fun and shooting them on an overcast day is a bit abnormal.  But it gives the subject a lot more pop from the very muted surroundings.  Try it out and let me know how it works for you.