Bouncing with reflectors - which color?

[David Delaney]

Just out of curiousity
1) what is the most reflective?
2) which is the most natural?

a) White
b) Silver
c) Gold

[Chris Soucy]

Q1 - b, c, a

Q2 - ah, now that's a good Q.

b & c do not scatter, so will give a harder fill. c will be warmer no matter what the light source. a will give a softer less industrial look but will simply reflect (in all senses of the word) the colour temp of the incident light.

a + c should give you the best of both worlds.


CS

[Heiko Saele]

I don't like gold reflectors too much, I think the color is just too brownish-yellow. I wouldn't mind that color on skin, but when a person smiles, the teeth reflect that brownish color as well...
In some cases gold might be fine, just be careful. There are however half gold half silver reflectors - I haven't used one of them, but the concept seems promising.

[Charles Papert]

Checkerboard (half silver, half gold) reflectors do indeed end up with a pretty neutral color tone. If I had to choose one or the other I'd go with the silver as the gold is indeed usually too much unless one is trying to replicate a late afternoon golden light (pretty much only works as a hair light).

What is arguably the most natural color for bounce is unbleached muslin, which is a pale beige in color. It is also the least reflective of anything you'd be likely to bounce with so you need a lot of it.

[Ger Griffin]

Lastolite call it sunfire.
www.lastolite.com