The Girl Next door

Photo © Gary M. Pinkston 1998

      In this shot, had I not used a reflector to bring up Shana's shaded side her face and body would have been as dark as the rock and foliage directly behind her.

     The key when enhancing with either flash or reflector is to coordinate the added light with the ambient. Here, the sunny-side/shady-side difference was originally four EV. I used a white 2x2 reflector to bring the shaded side up to only two EV below the sunlit side and then exposed for the shady side.

     There are two other choices I could have made. I could have placed the reflector the same way and exposed one EV higher (one stop above the shady-side and only one below the sunlit-side) or I could have moved the reflector half-again as close (bringing the shady-side up to within one EV of the sunlit-side) and exposed for the shady-side. The first of these options would have made the background too dark and would have put her face one stop below the exposed EV--I wanted her face fully exposed. The second option would have given me the fully exposed face I wanted but would have de-emphasized the highlights in her hair, which I also wanted.

     The lesson is that I did not simply light her up with a reflector to knock down the shadows but placed the reflector to balance the sunny-side against the shady-side in a way that would produce a specific look. I had a concept in mind for the shot and took the readings off the background, sunny-side and shady-side to determine how much fill to add and at what EV to take the exposure. Concept, concept, concept. . . .