My first reflector for portrait both indoor and outdoor

[radityopradipto]

Hi..
I'm thinking of getting a reflector as part of my kit for photographing people...
Do any of you have suggestions on what size I should get? Colors, brand etc
Thx
really appreciate it

[zappo]

I have reflectors from different brands and they are all quite the same (so the brand doesn't really matter I guess). Lastolite has some with a quie unique design, so you might want to check them out (The TriGrip and the TriFlector are well known but they are quite expensive, too).

For the reflector I would suggest to buy a 5 or even 7 in one. Our 5 in 1 can be used as diffusor and has a black / white and silver / gold coating.

The size depends on what you want to shoot. Acutally we have several different sizes. A small one which is usefull for close ups, a medium sized one I use often in our home studio and a really big one (1,50m in diameter) which is really handy for full lenght portraits or if you need a diffusor for a couple i.e. a bride and groom.

A problem with the big one: It's quite unhandy, especially when there is some wind....

Edit: Oh and one last thing. There also different kinds of shapes on the market. The round one's might be the most commen but something like this is especially hand when doing full lenght portraits. And you can use it as a quick background, too.

[candleman]

i have a large oval 5-in-1 (translucent, gold, silver, black ,white)
about 1.5m long on the longest side.

i find it a bit big for indoor use..
oudoors its great, I've lit a family of four with it even.

gold is great for nice warm portraits,
silver is good.. its quite hard and edgy.
translucent for diffusing hard sunlight
black for stopping light (creating more shadow)
white.. thats obvious.
i'd suggest go large at first, you can make a large one smaller, you cant make a small one larger.
gat a 5-in-1 you will need all the sides,

[radityopradipto]

Hmm..
I'm thinking of getting a portable one so it can fit in my backpack...
How's 82cm sounds like?
It's 55 AUD but only has 2 sides I guess

[wheats]

I bought a 5in1 22" (56cm) reflector off eBay and it's done me good so far. Cost me less than A$30 landed! If i were to be getting a round one now, i'd probably go for a 32" (82cm)!

Also, as mentioned, you may wish to look into a rectangle shaped reflector, good for portaits or groups (reflector held in a landscape perspective)