I just want to be certain with something: When light is projected through a reflector, the reflector flips the light upside down to what is then projected straight ahead on the road, right?

 

..........Bump.

 

no, the reflector is designed to redirect lighting to reflect outward to the road. If you look at your headlight, how it look like a basket of mirrors around the reflector. Take a flashlight for instance, you see a bulb and you see the surrounding bowl like shape and turn it on and it direct the light. But in automotive application, you have a cap in front of the bulb so it can contain the light directing at it and reflect into the reflector basket headlight and direct to the road. Now some cars don't have that, which you seen some have projector, which they do not use a cap or the reflector, you seen like a magnifying glass which make the light project where you want to aim it.

 

You got it...

 

Yes, reflectors to fip the light upside down. For an example, look at your reflection in the concave side of a spoon. You'll appear upside down because of the way a concanve surface reflects. Same thing applies to a reflector lens in a headlight or telescope or camera lense.

However your question is a little misleading, in that you don't project light through a reflector. You project light onto a reflector, which inverts it, focuses the beam, and sends it throught the lense.

On a projecter beam, the light is sent through a concave lense and "magnified", as the second poster describer, in that manner.

 

Thank you, fellas. Appreciate it very much.