Hey Marc,
While I agree with the overall content of your response, You mentioned a couple of things that could be missleading, that I feel need to be clarified, in the interest of helping everyone to improve.
Yes, bounce, bounce, bounce. But don't use a mirror. If the problem is hard shadows from a small light source, using a mirror will create hard shadows from two light sources, with the second, reflected, source causing harder shadows, because the distance has increased, causing the light source to get smaller.
Think about it. When you double the distance between your subject and the light source, you lose a stop. It's not because the light got dimmer, it's because the light source got smaller (relative to your subject). That's why when you have problems with spectral reflections, you should move the light source closer to your subject.
You also said something like the further you could bounce light, or distance, or something like that, the better. Once again, the further your light source is, the harder the shadows.
But you DID give me something to contemplate. What if you used one bare bulb strobe, sheilded from your subject for fill, and used a mirror to reflect the strobe for your main light?
This is what I love about photography.
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