The Digital Photography Book

When to Use a Reflector and How to Aim It

When we’re shooting outdoors and our subject’s back is to the sun, we can use a reflector to bounce sunlight back onto them to light their face, so they’re not in silhouette. However, if you’ve ever watched somebody aim a reflector at their subject, they usually hold it down low in front of them and bounce the sunlight up onto their subject. That works fine, if you’re just trying to fill in some shadows, but if your reflector is providing most of the light (your subject is in the shade), then you’re “up-lighting” your subject (kind of like they do in monster movies to make the monster look more menacing, ...