background reflectors vs silver umbrellas

itsdavedotnet

itsdavedotnet

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Has anyone use the background reflectors like those that bowens / lencarta sell for lighting white seamless? I use and can very efficiently set it up using silver brollies, which gives very good spread and no real problems, but is pretty space consuming, and isn't *completely* perfect, but pretty damn good... what is the spread like from background reflectors?

I can't find any pictures of stopped down shots to show the spread from them really :/ If anyone's got one / could take one, it'd be amazing :)
 
Hmm, cheers for that link, I had had a look around but couldn't see anything on them... Garry, any thoughts? End of the day, I've got a perfectly workable solution atm, and 2 background reflectors is £100, so I don't really want to buy if they're not damn effective and can get my lights quite a bit closer to the background than they have to be atm.
 
itsdavedotnet said:
Hmm, cheers for that link, I had had a look around but couldn't see anything on them... Garry, any thoughts? End of the day, I've got a perfectly workable solution atm, and 2 background reflectors is £100, so I don't really want to buy if they're not damn effective and can get my lights quite a bit closer to the background than they have to be atm.
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If you want to save space with a white background, have you tried a Lastolite HiLite?

I think that's the main advantage - you pretty much put the lights inside them so minimal extra width. And you can position the subject right up against the surface if needs be.

Makes for a very compact set up indeed :thumbs:
 
HoppyUK said:
If you want to save space with a white background, have you tried a Lastolite HiLite?

I think that's the main advantage - you pretty much put the lights inside them so minimal extra width. And you can position the subject right up against the surface if needs be.

Makes for a very compact set up indeed :thumbs:
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Yeah, they look neat, not waaay impressed by the pretty flarey light that comes from them, and the problems with train lighting that I just don't have with normal seamless... eventually I'll probably end up with one for event stuff I guess, but the flare issue will still be there.

Not quite as drunk person proof as my heavy duty vinyl either...
 
itsdavedotnet said:
Yeah, they look neat, not waaay impressed by the pretty flarey light that comes from them, and the problems with train lighting that I just don't have with normal seamless... eventually I'll probably end up with one for event stuff I guess, but the flare issue will still be there.

Not quite as drunk person proof as my heavy duty vinyl either...
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They're only flarey if you over-light them. Which most people do...
 
itsdavedotnet said:
Hmm, cheers for that link, I had had a look around but couldn't see anything on them... Garry, any thoughts? End of the day, I've got a perfectly workable solution atm, and 2 background reflectors is £100, so I don't really want to buy if they're not damn effective and can get my lights quite a bit closer to the background than they have to be atm.
Click to expand...

My personal preference, space permitting, it to have 2 x large strip softboxes, with the one on the right aimed towards the left and vice versa - but large strip softboxes cost a lot more than background reflectors and not everyone has space to spare - but if your present solution works for you, why change?

What the background reflectors do is to provide very even illumination at a very close distance. They are very effective, and have the other advantage that the cut off of light is very sharp, making it easy to avoid light spill onto the subject, which most people seem to have problems with when using a large softbox instead (eg the Hi-lite)
 
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