Building a full length DIY reflector and negative fill board.

DIY really isn’t for me, it’s not that I’m not capable in fact I was very much brought up to do everything for myself. That’s my family’s culture I tend to value my time more than my money. So if I can just buy it or pay someone else to do it then that’s the route I’ll choose.

However, sometimes there are things you just can’t seem to buy.

I have hired many professional studios and in most of them had a full length reflector, and they were always home made. I always enjoyed using them there is a great subtlety to using a reflector for fill that you just don’t get from an extra light.

So I tried to buy one but couldn’t find anything suitable. So I decided like the studio’s I had visited I would just have to build my own.

I hadn’t planned on sharing a “how to” but as I had my go everywhere camera with me I took a few snapshots as I went along. They aren’t exactly high quality images but should be enough to illustrate what I did.

The components

The reflectors themselves are 2x Polystyrene Boards measuring 2400mm x 1200mm (8 foot x 4 foot). These are sold in the UK as underfloor insulation.

I found the boards too big for my car. So I ordered them from a building merchant for a slightly higher price than I could have had them because they gave free delivery.

Originally I had planned on building a frame with castors based on what I had seen in other studios. However the castors on their own were more expensive that those wooden ‘trolleys’.

I bought some L shaped shelf brackets to hold the boards in place.

In other studios I noted that these boards seem to get in a bit of a mess on the corners so I decided I would gaffer tape them to try and extend the life.

And black paint for the negative fill side.

I also decided to paint the white side as the boards have black specs in them. Years ago these boards would have been pure white but they aren’t now due to recycled materials. The ones form the builders merchant were much whiter than those from the hardware store and thus I could probably have left them as they were without any reduction in effectiveness.

A note on the paint too, it needs to be acrylic or water based, oil based paints will dissolve the surface of the board.

Putting it together

It’s a fairly simple process. I started with the stands.

To start with I measured out the position of the brackets to put the 50mm thick board in the middle. Only placing in one screw to give me maximum flexibility when painting.

The boards are loosely placed horizontally in the stands to allow easier painting. As they are loosely placed it’s easy to flip them over to paint where the holders had been.

One tip for painting, I used a foam roller and I do think that’s the best tool but don’t be too gentle the boards are not flat there are gaps between the beads of polystyrene and you have to push the paint in. Even then I don’t think you will ever get 100% coverage, but it shouldn’t reduce effectiveness.

An alternative could be to paper the boards but I would use PVA rather than wallpaper paste.

I then just taped the corners with appropriately coloured gaffer tape to protect them from easy breaking.

Then turn the boards the right way up and add the extra screws to the stands for a more solid hold.

Things to do differently.

The L brackets are a bit low – it will do but would be more stable with something longer.

The white side probably didn’t need paining at all.

When taping the edges put the white on first and then the black over the top. The black tape shows through the white so it would be a neater finish putting down the white first.

I hope this post has helped someone!