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While magnification plays a significant role in the reflecting telescope’s power, the main key behind its effectiveness is the fact that it can collect far more light than the human eye. One of the most famous examples of a reflecting telescope is the Hubble Telescope, which weighs roughly 27,000 pounds and features a mirror that is nearly eight feet in diameter! Once the light bounces off the bowl-shaped mirror, it gets reflected to a secondary mirror, and then sent to the eyepiece, which is where you’ll put your eye in order to observe the target image. Simply put, a reflector reflects.Īlthough these types of telescopes can vary in size and complexity, the basic makeup and use of the reflector is the same: There is a bowl-shaped (concave) mirror positioned at the bottom of the telescope, and a large opening at the other end that allows light to enter. Reflecting TelescopeĪs its name implies, a reflecting telescope utilises curved mirrors in order to reflect the observed image back to your eye. The two most common types of telescopes on the market are reflector and refractor telescopes, but what exactly are they, and how do they differ? Below is a description of each type of telescope to help you determine which one would be the best fit for your needs. It’s smaller than the window with less spread of light, but sculpted the face better.Perhaps you’ve been thinking about taking up the fun hobby of stargazing, but you’re not quite sure which telescope would be the best one to use. In contrast, the diffused flash had more defined shadows. Window light produced softer shadows here, with less contrast and a bigger spread of light. The final comparison is between diffused window light on the left photo and one diffused flash on the right photo. #4 Diffused natural light vs diffused flash The right photo had two flashes, again diffused, with one light overhead to provide hair light and light the background for more separation. The left photo was lit with one flash on camera right positioned behind the diffuser, which was pretty big and placed close to the subject for a smooth, soft light. I thought I’d try this same technique for my indoor portraits by using this diffuser to cut down light from a flash, thereby acting like a big softbox but without the bounce. In effect, you are creating a slightly shadowed area for the subject, which makes it ideal for portrait lighting outdoors. This diffuser is great when shooting in harsh outdoor sunlight and you just want to cut the light down or tone it down by placing the diffuser between the sunlight and the subject. Strictly speaking, the black side doesn’t actually reflect light but rather absorbs it, and is good for cutting light out or using as flags. This is the diffuser and a super versatile tool. This fabric wraps around a middle standalone piece that’s translucent. These sides are made of fabric all stitched together as one zipped wrap. If you’re familiar with the 5-in-1 reflector, you’ll know there are four colored sides: white, silver, gold and black. I’d then get the happy warm tone that I’m after. Similarly, I’d warm up the one with the silver reflector in post, both using the white balance slider. If I were to edit these photos without considering the true effects of the reflector I’d tone down the warmth of the gold reflector by half and I’d be good with that. With the gold reflector, the black is richer and darker, whereas with the silver it’s a little more washed out.įor me these are both a bit extreme, with the gold reflector being too warm and the silver being too cold.
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I thought I’d do the same comparison, this time with the subject wearing black. Look carefully and this difference is more apparent on the teeth and skin tone being just a touch warmer.
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Notice the color temperature is still cool but softer, less sharp and less edgier than the silver one. Next to it on the right I once again had the same setup, but this time using two white reflectors. Notice how cool the color temperature has become. This one had two silver reflectors positioned in the same places. This setup warmed everything up – shirt, teeth, face and even the background.Ĭompare the effect of the gold reflector to the bottom left. I used two gold reflectors: camera right and in the front underneath the face. The portrait on its right shows a rather obvious warm glow all over.
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The window is large enough for a big spread illuminating both face and background. Top left is a natural light portrait lit only by window light, half-clear and half-frosted (diffused) but with no other reflectors used.
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