Using a 5-in-1 Reflector

Creating an attractive interview setup is all about your light. One of our favorite tools for crafting nice soft light on an interview subject is a 5-in-1 reflector. It’s lightweight, easy to transport, and works great for filling in shadows.

Here is our setup without using the reflector. We’re using an Arri 300 as our fill light with a small Chimera softbox. Our backlight is a diffused Arri 150. This was shot in the lobby of Mosher Media Cleveland where we have great track lighting throughout so we didn’t need any background lights. The house lights already illuminated the background and added some nice texture to the walls.

Depending on the shoot, this may be the look you’re going for. We wanted a little fill light on the right side (camera left) of my face. Our lobby is somewhat small so just adding another softbox wouldn’t have been feasible. We wouldn’t have been able to pull the light far enough back without it to soften it enough. It would have overpowered the shot.

In this shot, we’ve added in the reflector with the silver lining. This reflects back just enough light to fill in the shadows without being overpowering. This was our favorite look and what we would have gone with on a shoot. However, the 5-in-1 reflector has different linings so that you can vary the look of the light.

A typical 5-in-1 reflector will have a black lining as well. This isn’t for reflecting light but allows your reflector to be used as a flag. In our first image, the left side of my face was being illuminated by our key light but the left side was being still picking up some light from our key that was bouncing off the wall (about 5 feet out of frame). If we set up the reflector with our black lining, we can block most of this light from hitting the right side of my face.