Reader Tip: Foiled Again

Thanks to James Dyrek, who sent in one of his favorite lighting ideas:

Aluminum foil.

He puts it on computer monitors to make an efficient bounce surface for a low power flash, like a Vivitar 285 on (partial) manual power.

Foil is cheap, light and takes up almost no space in the bag. Triple aces on the Strobist scale.

You can use the stuff for mold-able GoBo material in a pinch, too. Or if you are using optical slaves that are being finicky about firing, you can make a little "scrunchy light reflector" just to catch and kick a little light into them.

For not weighing anything, that's some heavy metal.


(Thanks, James!)