Happy Accidents
Embrace serendipity, play, have fun, and discover new things...
I do goofy stuff like documenting gear I’m using and the setup. I used to take a lot of notes but in my old age when shooting digital I’ve become lazy and just make a couple of pictures of the setup, gear I used, etc. I love when I accidentally capture something I use over and over, something I rediscover, something I can share and never really documented it before.
I don’t remember the first time I observed an effect I’ve used and abused for the last 30 years. It’s in my notes somewhere but when testing a portable flash unit a while back and documenting what I was using I rediscovered something I wanted to share. I am not one that buys ever size and shape of softbox, I’d much rather use some sort of diffusion material and blast a bare head, or speedlight through that. Better yet, I usually bounce that bare head off a reflective surface then through a diffuser of some sort or another.
In testing the Elinchrom ELB portable flash pack and head I was doing just that. I was using one of those fold-up 5-in-one reflectors/diffusers you can get dirt cheap, disposable cheap. I unzippered the gold/silver part and chucked it on the floor, then proceeded to set up my flash head and inner diffuser of that 5-in-one panel. I made a couple of shots documenting a “behind the scenes” instead of writing it down and happened to catch something difficult to explain but noticed decades ago and use to this day…
Look at that magical light when you have diffused light hit a sliver reflective surface and then on to your subject. I cannot even begin to recount how many times I’ve used this in countless variations to make very natural looking and beautiful light in the most meager and crappy circumstances. I’ve done it with mirrors in bathrooms. I’ve done it with liver mylar, I’ve done it with $1.99 “space blankets”. Special tip of the day… you only need one light, diffuse it, bounce it, and reflect it using what you have rather than buying a ton of specialized tools and modifiers. Play with one light and model it off of things you’ve already seen happen with God’s light, the sun.