Photography reflector

I have been using a foil and cardboard reflector while taking my craft photos for a few years now, but I decided I needed a much bigger one! Here’s what I did:

1. Cut a piece of a large cardboard box (mine is 19" x 25").

2. Pull a couple of lengths of tinfoil off the roll, so you have enough to cover the cardboard.

3. Put some double sided tape on the cardboard to hold the tinfoil in place while you attach it.

4. Fold the tinfoil in place. I learned from experience that it is best to use the duller side of the foil – the shiny side creates too much distortion in the light.

5. Use some ordinary tape to cover any joins. The stuff I used was matt, so I don’t know if shiny tape would cause light distortion like the shiny side of the foil did.

6. Use thicker tape, parcel tape for example, to attach the foil to the back of the cardboard.

Your new reflector is ready to use!

You can see how much bigger than the old one it is!

This will give you an idea of the difference it makes. You can see there are areas of shadow in the Before picture that are no longer in shadow on the After picture, like the side of the doll's face and leg.