Mirror reflector

[Carlos_E._Martinez]

Just in case someone finds this useful, let me tell you what I provided for my location work.

It's been some time that I wanted to have a mirror plate that I could take everywhere and not worry about being fragile, as regular glass mirrors are.

Some time ago I found an acrylic mirror plate, that you can have cut any size you want. So I had one cut in a 0.5m x 1m size.

A mirror reflector has several applications, with natural or artificial lighting. The most important being that you can use it to bounce a light anywhere with minimum loss.

You have to take some precautions with such a light though, as it can't move or shake. With diffuse bouncing cards that is not so critical, so you can get someone to hold the card on his/her hand. With a mirror you have to put it on the floor and secure it somehow, or use some other kind of stable support.

But it's an excellent tool for location work, as you can even use it to bounce the sunlight onto a diffused card which is close to your subject. Or you can bounce it to a white roof through a window, and get a silent and intense base light , as it was done in "The blue lagoon", as Nestor Almendros described.

Being acrylic it's light, you can bend it a little and unbreakable. What I also did was glue a brilliant rugged aluminium fabric to the other side of the acrylic mirror, so I can use it as soft reflector too.

That was not all. I had my wife sew a flat bag for transporting the mirror, made with silver cloth on one side and gold cloth on the other.

So now I have four surfaces to pick from on my portable reflector.

[Barry_Green]

Very clever. I've got some Matthews reflectors on yokes, always wanted a glass mirror board but didn't care for the weight or fragility. Maybe I'll get some acrylic mirror material and cut to size to fit my existing reflectors for those times when the pure mirror side would be necessary. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Cool Lights]

Good idea carlos. Another one you might like would be a piece of 1/4" plywood with a layer of mirrored thin gauge aluminum attached to it. talk about light and very durable--not given to scratching the mirroring off its surface. I'm not sure how easy it would be to scratch the surface mirroring off the plexiglass types. What do you think?

[Carlos_E._Martinez]

Maybe I'll get some acrylic mirror material and cut to size to fit my existing reflectors for those times when the pure mirror side would be necessary.

If you already have reflectors, you can screw some U-shaped securing clips to the side and bottom bottom, and slide the reflector in.

[Carlos_E._Martinez]

Another one you might like would be a piece of 1/4" plywood with a layer of mirrored thin gauge aluminum attached to it. talk about light and very durable--not given to scratching the mirroring off its surface.

Plywood may not be the right material for that. There's a thin wood fibre, available in plates and over here called Eucatex, which was used on TVs' and turntables' backs. It's more durable and resistant than plywood, does not age, absorb humidity or need any insect or surface treatment.

The question would be to find that mirrored aluminum, which I am not sure is available everywhere.


I'm not sure how easy it would be to scratch the surface mirroring off the plexiglass types. What do you think?

About the scratching, acrylic might be prone to it, but mostly on transport. That's why you need a bag for it. Which in my case I would use as reflector too.