Assignment #5 - Using Mirrors
In the video, I discussed briefly how a mirror directly reflects all light that it interacts with. Because of this, mirrors can actually be a very powerful lighting tool in your setups.
In fact, there are tools designed for cinematography that help create specific lighting looks without the need for super expensive equipment or a lot of space. These tools are mirrors! There is one company I know that make custom designed mirrors to help cinematographers do just that:
https://www.instagram.com/thelightbridge/
(Their products are expensive, just a warning. I DO NOT expect you to buy these. I only want to show you what's possible with the use of mirrors specifically)
The interesting thing with mirrors is you can create a quality of light that MAY SEEM like the light is very far away (light with less light fall-off), but in reality, the mirror can be rather close to the subject.
You can also create interesting pockets of light just by using mirrors. This does depend on the shape of the mirror and how you angle it with respect to the main light source, but in essence, you have opportunities to create some interesting light.
Here are some examples I tried out:
The result?
The BTS photos don't exactly represent how these pictures were taken, but the concept is still the same. It was just a matter of moving around the mirror reflection of the light and my camera angle. That's it.
There is very little light fall-off and the quality looks as if the light source is really far away, but with the use of just a mirror, we can have the mirror really close to the subject but still have the light seem like it's far away without having actually be far away.
I encourage you to try it. So with that, your assignment is as follows:
Using just one flash or continuous light, and ANY mirror you have at your disposal, create one still life photo that has the reflected light as your key light, isolating the subject.
Please don't forget to take a BTS photo of your setup. Post your result(s) in the Discord channel.
Great job! When you're ready, I'll see you in the next lesson.
