Reflector is a kind of cost-effective and widely used auxiliary equipment for photography lighting.
Reflectors come in many colors. What are the functions of different color reflectors and what subjects are they suitable for shooting? What are the tips and precautions?

1. Silver reflector 



Silver reflectors is the most versatile and common reflector . It has the highest reflectivity and is the best choice in low-light environments (or when you need to create strong auxiliary light), either as a supplementary light or as a primary light source.
In addition, silver reflectors are more suitable for beginners. When arranging the reflector, it is very important to adjust the distance between the reflector and subject. Beginners often lack experience and make the reflector too far away from the subject and silver reflector reflects more light, partly making up for that mistake.
Of course, that's not to say that silver reflectors are everything. When the ambient light is stronger, the silver reflector often causes the reflected light to be too strong, too "hard", affecting the lighting effect. Then ou might want to soften the light, or make it farther away from the subject.

2. Gold reflector



Gold reflectors are ideal for outdoor portraits because they work best with the warm colors of the sun.
Especially when taking the portrait with backlight of the sunset, the sunshine with warm colors would reflect by the golden surface and further strengthen the warm colors, which give the sunset feeling to the subject.
However, it's best not to use gold reflectors for studio lights and flashlights cause it would cause a yellowish hue and you'll notice that the white artificial light doesn't reflect evenly.

3. White reflector



White reflector reflect less strongly but softer and more uniform than gold and silver reflector, which is suitable to create the filling light and be used to reduce the shadows.
As long as the light is not too dark, white reflector work well indoor and outdoor.
However, due to the reflecting performance of the white reflector is not very high, you may need to make the reflector more closer to the subject, while which adds a little trouble to the composition; in addition, white reflector do not perform well in environments with poor lighting.

4. Black reflector


The black surface of the reflector is not used to reflect light, but to absorb the light. Placing the black reflector in place can significantly reduce the lighting from specific direction.


Black reflector are often used to reduce reflections on objects in still life photography like jewelry, glass bottles and metal objects.

Black reflectors are more used to create the personalized shadows in designated area.