"You dont see an image of the sun on the ground, but if you look into you see the same thing that the mirror sees. Looking into the sun however does not change the amount of light that was striking you, so that analogy is a poor one."
That doesnt really make sense to me, even substituting the word that is missing with 'mirror' and 'sun'. I never said anything about looking into the sun, only reflecting it. If a mirror reflecting the sun is directed at you, and you are in the sun, it changes the amount of sunlight you get right? If you want to see an eclipse, you can use a mirror to bounce an image of the sun coming in your window onto your ceiling/wall. I did this last year. If you are in the light of a MH bulb, and then you use a mirror to reflect an image of the bulb on you as well, you are getting more light right? It should be an image of what the bulb looks like...white hot plasma inside a glass bulb, but only the bright plasma will make 'light image' (you wont see the bulb relfected). What you look at doesnt change how much light you receive, I agree. Mirrors wont create a hot spot, but they can reflect them, in a sense making more. I think we are just describing the same thing differently, because your right, they dont spread the light much. I just dont think the sun is a poor analogy because a MH bulb is like a tiny sun. The only difference is the sun is so far away so you get an image that is more true, where a bulb close to a mirror will spread the light more. I think I would just use the shiny side of aluminum foil for a cheap route, or go with a polished aluminum relfector for a little more money. I like the idea of just using white paint as mentioned before, it would be a soft light, but that would probably make most people feel like they didnt do enough. Good surface agitation would keep the hot spots for focusing in one spot too long as well.
