Using Walls as Reflectors

When photographing at urban locations, chances are you are surrounded by tall buildings. The building walls are usually clustered close to each other. This creates opportunities for you to use the walls not only as backgrounds but also as reflectors. Photographs taken under these conditions can result in some of the most stunning portraits you will ever take.

You need two walls facing each other with one illuminated by the sun. Take a look at this illustration to get a better idea of this scenario (15.9). The wall on the left is white, so it’s a perfect reflector because it will not create any colorcast. Take a close look at the wall on the right. Notice how the light gradually improves toward the back end of the wall, where it is at its absolute best. There, you could take a photo of anybody or anything with any camera, including a cell phone, and it would look magnificent. To illustrate this point, I asked my wife to take some photographs of me at different sections of the light brown wall on the right. This way, you can see how the light on a person’s face improves as it approaches the spot on the wall with the best quality of light.