What if I told you that i only used one light to create this image. It’s true. I used one of my favorite lighting modifiers— a DIY reflector. To make it I covered a sheet of cardboard with self-adhesive mirror tiles, first scoring it in two places for easy folding. It works well with both studio strobes and sunlight, with the ripple texture of the cardboard adding a dappled appearance to the light. It’s also a nice way of making one light source look like multiple lights. Sometimes I’ll attach colored gels to the reflector to add a nice colorful accent. For the first set of these images I used a fungus-filled lens with a star filter to create dreamy images. For the second set I used sunlight, a gold gel, and set my white balance to tungsten. Thanks to @repotrash for being a patient, emotive model.

If you enjoyed these setups make sure to pre-order my upcoming book, The Creative Portrait or check out the video tutorials.