Polyboards

[Ilona Brownson]

Using polyboards, whether that be in a studio or on location, can be a great way to control your lighting. Here I'm using the black sides of the polyboards to create shadow on the side of the models face when using a softer light source.

For your reference, 'polyboards' can be purchased under the name of polystyrene sheets from DIY stores under the insulation section. An 8 foot by 4 foot board is 2400mm by 1200mm. You also want to watch out for the thickness. We'll be using them for a purpose that they aren't intended for so you need to purchase a thickness that is substantial enough to hold it's own weight when upright. I recommend a 2 inch thick sheet and that translates to 50mm. Here's a link to a 15.99 sheet in U.K. store called Wickes 50mm General Purpose Polystyrene 1200 x 2400mm

You can see me using the black velvet sheets on stands here in a studio to heavily control the bounce of light. In large white spaces like studios, the light will keep bouncing around the walls, floor and ceiling which can leave your lighting looking flat. You should be able to see here on the final image that there is very soft beautiful light on the models face but there are still strong shadows on the sides of her face to give depth and shape.

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Polyboards are large sheets of foam that are traditionally used as insulation in building construction. As most studio photographers know, they are also great as light modifiers. Most photographers use white and black polyboards to reflect light and create shadows. They are lightweight, cheap, and have a large surface area. For my studio, I decided I wanted many polyboards of different colours to use as backdrops and reflectors.

To create coloured backgrounds in studios, photographers often use gels on speedlites and strobes to light up a white background. I have found this can work fine, but it can also take a bit of stuffing about getting an even and consistent spread of colour. The advantage of using gels is that you can get a larger spread of colour than a polyboard provides. But a polyboard will have a more consistent, richer colour.

There are several companies around any major city where you can find polyboards. The standard studio photography size of these is 2400mm by 1200mm and a 50mm thickness. I went for 75mm thick, as I wanted something a little more rigid. Keep in mind that the size you choose will determine the size of stands you need to construct.

If you are having the boards delivered, I recommend you make a special note to the provider to deliver them mark and dent free. Since they are usually used in construction, care is not usually taken with them, and I had to have some replaced.

Make sure you reserve a board and paint for black and white reversible colours on the same polyboard (one side black, one side white). This will allow you to quickly reverse them without grabbing another board, as is often needed. Black and white are used most as light modifiers.

Whilst the coloured polyboards give a fabulous rich coloured background, I am finding the black polyboards absolutely indispensable for creating shadow and deadening light. I seem to rarely take a shot without surrounding my subject with these.

About the Author:
John McKay is the owner of Teardrop Studio in Melbourne, Australia. Having a background in education, John has been a professional photographer for a couple of years with a focus on people, portraits, and training. All images courtesy of John McKay.

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We recently added some black and white polyboards to our photography studio in Hemel Hempstead so we thought we would create a blog post explaining what poly boards are, why they are so useful for photographers and how they can elevate the quality of your images.

Polyboards are lightweight, rigid panels typically made of foam or polystyrene used in photography as light modifiers to reflect light and/ or create shadows. These boards come in various sizes, offering photographers a wide range of options to manipulate light during a photoshoot. Most photography studios use black and white poly boards to block light and bounce light. (Black side to block and white side to reflect or bounce light back onto the subject.)

Polyboards are really portable and lightweight, making them ideal to easily move around a photography studio. The lightweight design allows for quick and efficient adjustments during a shoot, enabling photographers to achieve precise lighting control without being weighed down by heavy equipment.

One of the questions I am asked the most is how do I make my v-flats and polyboards for my backdrops. I have been using v-flats and polyboards as my backdrops in my studio for 26 years. I love them because they photograph beautifully, they are lightweight, and they are inexpensive to make.

V-flats and polyboards are two separate things. Polyboards are made of polystyrene and they need to be painted if you want to use them as Backdrops as they are white, if you just want to use them as reflectors then the white is perfect (BEST reflector money can buy) and v-flats are made of foam core and come in black and white.

This bin has polyboard slats riveted to welded steel frames. The polyboards are made from an ecologically sound recycled material, which is durable, water resistant, rot free, and requires no maintenance.

Polaroids stacking up on the polyboards flanking the photo set represent the passage of time as much as they document the shots taken. Perhaps predictably with this maverick set of image-makers, the series of images amassed already reveals a departure from some of the initial intentions for the shoot.

The gilt chair positioned centre stage at the beginning of the day, indicative of the stock props of luxury 1860s portrait studios such as Camille Silvy's or Disdri's, has since been relegated to the wings. Tracing his fingers over the slivers of mantelpieces and edges of tables that skim the margins of Spry's pictures in the source book, Michael Howells explains how the floral props and furniture initially envisaged to adorn the set seemed over-mannered when introduced on the day. 'We wanted to give a sense of the interior creeping in without overstatement. Nick and I realised the narrative was most effective when created by shadows of the props rather than the objects themselves'.

Featuring a girlish yellow chiffon Ferretti dress and the inspirational Margiela flowers themselves, the series from which will come the second shot reveals how this shadow-play introduces a sense of narrative that transforms a simple studio portrait into a dramatic psychological profile. The spectre of the set - cast by shadows over the body of the model - is most present in its absence.

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