How to make a 2-in-1 DIY foldable reflector on a budget
Nov 27, 2018
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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A reflector and a flag are useful pieces of kit you should have in your kit. In this video, photographer Alastair Bird shows you how to make your own 2-in-1 reflector and flag. The white side works as a reflector to give you a nice, soft fill light, and you can use the black side as a flag. It’s cheap, easy to build, and it fits in your car along with all the gear you carry to a shoot.
You will need
- A 4 x 8 sheet of foam core (white on one side, black on the other)
- A sharpie
- A utility knife
- 2 in black gaff tape
- 2 in white tape
- A straight edge
How to make
As I mentioned earlier, this reflector is quite easy to make. Start by laying your sheet of foam core on a flat surface and divide it into four equal 24” segments. Then, use the utility knife to slice the foam core into four 4 x 2 pieces.
The next step is to bring the four pieces together again to make the reflector foldable. Use the black tape on the black side, and the white tape on the white side. And this is pretty much it, you’re good to go!
This reflector fits on the back seat of your car, it’s foldable, and you are likely to already have all these items lying around the house somewhere. So, I believe this is one of those project some of you can make without even going to Home Depot. If you decide to make one, make sure to share the results with DIYP.
[How to make your own folding black/white photographic 4×8 fill card | Underexposed with Alastair Bird]
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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6 responses to “How to make a 2-in-1 DIY foldable reflector on a budget”
Why it’s better than cloth with pipe and couple clamps?
Because it’s rigid, light and can be angled way easier
Second bottom pipe for another angle? Sorry, maybe I understand it wrong.
Thanks for sharing the making video of folding reflector.I will try this.
Is this better from cloth with and clamps?
There’s a small typo in the text: “A 4 x 8 sheet of foam core (black
on one side, black on the other)” -> “white on one side”.
we are trying to invent Black&White ;) fixed, thanks!