See how Sue Bryce uses these reflectors to create the most amazing photographs in these great classes:
In this quick DIY video, Tiffany shows you how to create your own reflector stands using Polystyrene (styrofoam) boards found at your local big box hardware store to use as reflectors for use in your photo studio (as made popular by Sue Bryce).
These can also be used as backdrops for entertaining, such as behind cake tables, or make a great background for photo booths due their light weight and ability to easily pin various materials to the background.
Materials required:
(1) Polystyrene board (1.5″ thick x 8′ tall x 4′ wide)
(2) 8″ x 10″ shelf brackets
(2) 2×4’s cut to 18″ each
(2-6) long screws (at least 1.5″) with accompanying nut to connect the brackets to polystyrene board
(8-12) 1/2″ screws to screw the shelf brackets into the base
Tools required:
Screwdriver
Wrench
Drill (to drill pilot holes and small screws into the 2×4’s)
Hand saw or table saw (to cut the 2×4’s)
Total cost for this project will run about $30 for materials.
Please post any comments or questions below. Thanks for watching!
www.tiffanyangeles.com
Great! Thanks!
that outfit…… girl :L
Will it be fine to stick wallpaper adhesive on a styrofoam?
Nice outfit anyway
Can you arrange a floral wall for this?
can i use this for outside? and if so how can i get still so that the wind doesnt knock this down?
How can I cut this and get clean edges?
This is exactly the video I have been looking for! Thank you!
I think you can make it yourself, just loook and learn from wood prix .
Thank you!!!!! No one on YouTube shows how to make the support just how to do the project. I’m using the foam to make a flower wall for my wedding but I need to have I.t stand alone at the venue. Thanks again you rock!!!
Hey , what store can I find those materials ?
Did you buy the supplies at Home Depot?
thanks so much
great tips . thank you
We use this kind of foam in the model airplane hobby and there are some tricks we can borrow from that hobby to help use the foam for photo/video uses.
Often, it turns out the inked logo printing on one side of these can be removed with isopropyl alcohol, if you want to keep the plastic outer layer. The isoprop will also dull that plastic a bit but should not dissolve the foam.
You can "melt-proof" polystyrene foam with a coating of Elmer's glue, thinned with water. Or the water-based latex version of "Kilz" wall primer will also work. There are hobby products specifically made for coating foam, to make it paint-able, but they tend to be expensive in the amounts you'd need for panels this large. There is also a version of Krylon rattle-can spray paint that used to be foam safe, it was called H2O, because it was water-based, not solvent-based.
Finally, a very cheap way to coat this foam and make it harder and able to take paints is to use water-based polyurethane furniture stain/coating. Minwax Polycrylic is the brand model airplane makers like to use. Brush on, let dry, then you can paint it with latex house paints, any colors. You can also make the foam panels SUPER strong if you lay brown kraft paper (brown shopping bag paper) on them and brush the polycrylic over that to adhere it. Sort of like papier mache'. When it dries it will be almost like fiberglass; stiff and super light and paintable with anything.
As to transporting the large panels, that is a major issue and car-topping is generally not safe or successful. It may work better with the thicker-foil-backed insulating panels, especially if first sandwiched between two 4×8 sheets of wall paneling for transport. What I'd suggest is get some wall paneling with the "brick wall" pattern on them, cheap at around 12-15 bucks a sheet, ( and most photogs will find a use for the brick backdrop at some point) and make a v-flat from those after using them to transport your foam sheets. You could cut the foam into smaller chunks with a very sharp razor blade to make them fit inside the car, and glue them back together at the destination, sanding the joints if a uniform surface is important. But it's simpler to pay for the home center to deliver the clean, whole sheets on a truck, or rent a u-haul van for 20 bucks for a few hours.
Well you answered a question from my thoughts. I was wondering how to pull this off the other day
What density of polysterene are you using? +102378162785035852175
I think it is around $13 a sheet. I was thinking it would cost more. Great idea!
I have watched a LOT of these videos on how to make these back drops, and yours is the most practical! Thank you so much for taking the time to make this video! I am so grateful that I found it today! Blessings to you.
bravo!
Is it my device or does the sound fade off?
You don't use screws to connect through the sheet … a screw does not accept a nut … you are using bolts. Screws for the connection to the 2 X 4. It may not seem important but the difference is significant.
just a few quick corrections/suggestions in case they hadn't been mentioned.
don't use screws, use BOLTS 🙂
– bolts take a nut on the other end; a screw just digs in and holds to whatever you are screwing it in to. iow u can't use a nut on a screw.
– and if you use a large FLAT washer on both ends, the foam will last longer.
– if you want to make them easier to store, use different thicknesses of wood for the stands so the legs will go together and they will sandwich next to each other when not in use
Wow this video help me a lot thank you
Thank you
you are so beautiful