Silver equals cool light. Gold equals a warmer light. White is generic, reflecting what hits it. For nudes, I would go with a white and a gold. But that is my personal choice. There are kits out where you can get a reflector, a stand and an instruction video for around $100. And this gives you a start on stands for lighting. And the video I saw was a pretty good teacher of fundamentals. Understand the fundamentals and why they are fundamental and you know when you can push the limit and get better shots.

I also forgot, the silver gives a harder fill with a shift to the cool side, gold gives harder fill with a color shift to the warm side. And white gives a better and more even fill, softer than silver or white. In the end, it depends on personal choice, as almost anything in this field does.

A lot of reflectors have zippered covers. The one that I have has gold on one side, black on the other (for a headshot background), and zip off the cover it's translucent. Flip the cover inside out and you have silver on one side, white on the other. It's about a 30" reflector and it cost me about $40. I've also got a larger one, but not with the zippered system. I wish I had gotten the larger size. If you can stand farther away, it makes the light less harsh and this can be accomplished with the larger ones.

stef:

I think the first question would have to be what sort of light you're planning on using.

What reflector you use is, at least in part, going to depend on your light sources.

One GREAT suggestion. Go buy a roll of white gaffer's tape. Go buy two pieces of white Gator board. Tape together. It folds out into a 4'x4' white bounce, for around $22. And folds into a 2'x4' for easy carry. It also works as a scrim of needed.