Today Holly was sick so I worked on learning more about some of the photography techniques she has mentioned to me. One way I did this was using her idea of a homemade reflector. The homemade reflector that Holly uses is a large piece of Styrofoam that is painted silver. I wanted to make mine out of a different material so I could compare how different the end results were. I used a white poster board for mine and did not paint it silver. When I used the “reflector”, I also practiced the concept of open shade. Open shade is helpful when shooting outside during the day, especially when the sun is bright. Essentially, open shade is when the subject stands in a shaded area but is still lit up from the sun. For example, the subject may stand in the shadow of a building, but the sun is still hitting them.
My subject when I was practicing these concepts was Tyson. He is standing in open shade, so the light is hitting him but he isn’t over exposed. Additionally, I used the reflector to balance out the shadows on his face from the angle of the sun.
Alaina's Photography Intensive 