Using a reflector is one of the easiest yet most significant things you can do to improve the lighting of your food photographs. A strong light source can cause harsh shadows to fall on your food which usually translates into poor images. A reflector can fix that situation by bouncing light onto the shadow side and adding an overall brightness to the image.
How to use a reflector in second part of post...
What Is A Reflector?
A reflector is any rigid form used to bounce light onto the shadow side of the subject. I use a small, store bought reflector that folds up into a small compact shape. It's made out of fabric over a rigid frame with one side white and the other side a metallic silver. The white gives me a softer brightness while the silver gives me bright, punchy light.You can make your own by taking a piece of white foamboard and covering one side with aluminum foil.
Placement Is Key
The placement of the reflector is the most important consideration. The reflector should be placed OPPOSITE of the main light source. In the photo above, the window is the light source, so the reflector is placed to the right of the bowl of lemons, FACING the window. This will cause the light to bounce from the reflector back onto the lemons. As you can see in the photo, I use two jars of jam to hold the reflector up. No fancy equipment needed!
Here is a before and after
Great advice on reflectors.
ReplyDeleteThanks Cooking Photographer! I love the photos on your blog!
ReplyDeleteExcellent tip! Amazing what a simple reflector can do to a photograph.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your knowledge with us.
ReplyDeleteThis is very useful for me.
Regards from Lisbon, Portugal
Moira
Awesome piece of truly useful advice .. THANK YOU!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great comments everyone! This tip is truly simple and makes a world of difference.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! I am going to try this!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michelle. Let me know how it turns out.
ReplyDeleteYou do see the difference. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks Taga. It's amazing, right?
ReplyDeleteinteresting lightin
ReplyDeleteWhat do you recommend when taking photos when the natural light is gone?
ReplyDeleteHi Culinary Chase,
ReplyDeleteIf the natural lighting is gone I'd recommend waiting until it returns. Flash photography is really one of those things that require fancy or expensive equipment and I simply don't recommend it.....I'm usually really disappointed with the results so I don't even bother.
good tip. i can use all the help you can give.
ReplyDeleteSame for me - I'm just getting started with this food blogging thing and am not happy with my pictures so far. Definitely going to give this a try and scour the rest of this site. Thanks much!
ReplyDeletethank youuuuuu!:) i will make/buy one after my exams!:)
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this; it will really help out in my tiny little apartment (with very little natural light)!
ReplyDeleteThis seems like a dumb question, but I have to ask: does size or shape matter when all is said and done?
Thanks for the comments everyone!
ReplyDeleteKate, the reflector I use is about the size of a large serving dish, do it doesn't have to be huge....I find that the smaller ones are easier to place and to control the direction of the bounced light.
EXCELLENT Info!!!!!!! Thank you so much!
ReplyDelete