Jean Renard Photography wrote:
If I understand you correctly, the reflectors do not contribute to softness of light, only to the amount of light. Painting them black will not serve you well.

If the reflector is totally gone then the light would bounce off the walls and the shadow contrast could suffer.

However


If the reflector is present but not black it could 'light up' and through its bounce contribute to a larger apparent size for the light source which would soften the shadows.

IMHO

BlueMoonPics wrote:
Everything is a light reflector.
The beauty dish, the metal bowl, ceilings, walls, everything.  It just depends upon the degree of reflectance.

Right, and that's why the topic of black paint comes up.

White diffuse things are about a 90% gray. at most.

Normal black diffuse things are about a 4% gray.

NothingIsRealButTheGirl wrote:
Parabolic Reflectors with Various Surface Treatments in Photography
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi2M6x1uawY

Yes, nice work here.
May I ask what software that is?

NothingIsRealButTheGirl wrote:

If the reflector is totally gone then the light would bounce off the walls and the shadow contrast could suffer.

However


If the reflector is present but not black it could 'light up' and through its bounce contribute to a larger apparent size for the light source which would soften the shadows.

IMHO

Yeah, there is a lot wrong with his assumption. Black reflectors do yield a different result. Not really a debatable point, but easy to prove.