I got a post for photographers today. I made my own bounce card/reflector and I call it the “reyflect” (thanks to my wife for coming up with the name). I have had the reyflect on my camera for about 3 months now and I use it anytime I am bouncing flash off of ceilings. When you are indoors, bouncing your flash is the best way to get soft, flattering light. It also helps to have a way to bounce light forward while you are bouncing to add some extra fill to your subject.

I got the idea for this creation after seeing the A Better Bounce Card videos and demonstrations. Peter Gregg used photo paper as a bounce card, he came up with different ways to alter the paper to create different effects. They are great videos and walk you step by step on how to create your bounce card and I basically used his instructions, only using different materials. I didn’t like the idea of using photo paper that had to be replaced after a few times of using and abusing it. I wanted to use some type of material that would be more permanent. If you would like the step by step tutorial just click the read more!

Update: I was talking to Peter Gregg about the reyflect and he told me I would have to be careful of specular light, harsh light produced from reflective surfaces, on the faces of subjects. I do not know much about lighting so I appreciated the feedback. I am going to take some test shots so you can see some differences and I am going to flip the reflector around to the white side and see how that affects the subject and hopefully it will produce a more diffused and soft light. I’ll post my experiments soon!

Here are the materials I used:

1) Scissors / Exacto Knif
2) Wire / Wire Cutter
3) Velcro
4) Needle/Thread
5) Black Apron*
6) Black Duct Tape (what DIY project doesn’t have duct tape?
7) Car Sun Visor

* I spent a long time thinking about what material to use as my backing. When I first made this bounce card I used the material on the sides of lunch pales. It was a plastic type material and it worked great, but I was never able to find it again without spending under $15. You can find that type of material on all sorts of bags in Wal-mart. I just happen to find a black apron in my art classroom and it worked out perfectly.

Step 1: I made a little template on paper to know the shape I wanted to cut out. I didn’t include this on the image but the height is 7.25″

Step 2: Cut fabric with template you cut out.

Step 3: Cut wire to fit on sides of fabric. I had this wire in my house from a past class I took in college. It was a little to flimsy so I cut 4 pieces of each and used duct tape to hold them together, and they were much more flexible and easier to manage.

Step 4 : Sew or find someone who knows how to use a sewing machine. After you wrap your wire with duct tape you want to fold over the edges of the fabric over the wire and sew it in place.This is the most time consuming part of the project, it would have helped if I had a sewing machine and if I knew how to use one. When I make another one I am going to take it to someone with a sewing machine.

Step 5: Stick velcro on corners of fabric. Cut your car sun reflector a little smaller than your fabric and place velcro on the the corners and attach.

Step 6: Attach to flash using a rubber band and go play around. I used a thick black rubber band that I bought from Peter Gregg’s site, it works great. Before I used that rubber band I was using one of the skinny rubber bands that came with the Gary Fong lightsphere that I never use.

The great thing about this bounce card is that it is flexible and can be adjusted any way you want to direct light. You can bend the wire forward at the top to block light from going forward and direct it forward. You can bounce it directly to the ceiling and still bounce light forward. You can also bend it backwards and adjust the amount of light you want pushed forward or fold it all the way back and not use it at all.

I would love to know if any of you end up making this and let me know what you think. I would love some feedback. If anything wasn’t clear just let me know!