Magnum Reflector Fashion Shoot | Inside Fashion and Beauty Photography with Lindsay Adler

A Magnum reflector is a stunning modifier for creating sculpted, hard light in a fashion shoot. While not one of the more common light modifiers, it is a favorite amongst many fashion photographers. Why? Because you get the crisp shadows of hard light, yet its size and finish create a bit more pleasing/forgiving glow on the skin. It’s like sunlight, but more flattering!

In fact, when on location many photographers will use a Magnum reflector to simulate the feel of sunlight but to have more control and more flattering directionality. In the studio, however, I frequently use a Magnum reflector when I want a more timeless, old Hollywood hard light effect.

To channel this timelessness in this shoot I don’t need to go full ‘vintage’, but instead, I focus on sculpted light with rich black and white tonalities (as you can see in this example).

When using the Magnum reflector there are a few important things to keep in mind:

1. Hot Spot

The Magnum reflector doesn’t create an even light source. Instead, part of it will be more focused/brighter than the rest. Be careful when pointing the light so that the hot spot isn’t hitting the chest of the shoulder. I recommend it either hit the face or hit somewhere off the subject’s body.

2. Feathering

The way that you angle the light source will create varying effects on the subject and background. In this setup, I angle the light so that the top left-hand corner of the frame is darker and creates a pleasing gradient across the Savage Fashion Grey seamless paper.

3. “Zoom”

When using a Profoto Magnum reflector you have the ability to “zoom” the light on the head. You can adjust the light so it sits further back on the strobe or moves it forward. Depend on the placement you will have a light that is a bit more concentrated (narrower beam) or light that covers more area of the scene. Be sure to experiment to see what fits your concept.

For this setup, I used a single Profoto D2 strobe, a Profoto magnum reflector, and a Savage Universal Fashion Grey Background. And….that’s it! Bringing this shot to life was all about getting the right expressions, pose, and energy (through motion). Because I knew much of the subject’s body would be in silhouette, I carefully posed my subject to create visual curves/hourglass shapes. Crossing her knees over and cropping near the knees, helped to create a ‘narrowing point’ to emphasize the pleasing curves we created.

PRODUCTS USED:

• Profoto D2
• Profoto Magnum Reflector
• Canon R5
• Canon RF 24-105
• Savage Universal Fashion Grey seamless background
• Avenger High Roller Stand