Must Have Light Shaper : The Umbrella
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Hello readers. In the last month I have done a session on why every photographer should have an umbrella in their kit for the KelbyOne CommunityLIVE! web show and a presentation and live demonstration for my local camera club.
The umbrella is the fastest, simplest to use and most forgiving of all light shapers. It works with hotshoe flash, strobes and even LED lights if they have enough power to light the subject effectively.
When looking at an umbrella, you do not have to spend a lot of money. From a construction perspective, I recommend a metal centre shaft that is more solid than hollow. I also prefer fibreglass rods to form and hold the umbrella shape over metal. Fibreglass flexes, but metal bends and once bent the wrong way, it’s trash can time.
I will always recommend that your first umbrella be a 2 in 1 design. This means that it can be used as a reflective umbrella and as a shoot through umbrella. When looking at the reflective option, you will have a choice between white or silver for the internal lining. No other colour is appropriate. White is less reflective so you need the umbrella in closer than with silver for the same exposure, but because it requires the umbrella to be closer you may find that because the source (umbrella diameter) is now closer, the light is softer. Silver provides the advantage of more working distance.
A general umbrella is very forgiving. If your umbrella aim is a bit off, you won’t notice because a regular umbrella does not have a focus point. For this reason I never recommend parabolic umbrellas because to get decent light from them is a lot more work. The light has to be positioned properly, your aim needs to be on, and you need to use more exacting control of light to umbrella distance to control the focus point.
Because umbrellas are so forgiving, their falloff is very smooth, unlike a para or a soft box where the falloff is quite abrupt.
You can position your umbrella pretty much at any angle to your subject from head on to entirely from one side. An umbrella positioned correctly can deliver Hollwood light, standard portrait light (about 30 degrees off the centre line), Rembrandt light and split light. They also work quite well if you want to feather the light which means the majority of the light passes in front of your subject.
The Basic Kit
I’m going to list my personal recommendations for some gear, but you can buy whatever you like. My choices are not the most expensive, but are all well built and will last a long time.
Manfrotto joe mcnally 4 in 1 umbrella
Starting with an umbrella, you want to consider where you will shoot mostly. If only at home or in houses, a 32” diameter or so gives you lots of flexibility and doesn’t need a lot of ceiling height. I chose a 55” diameter because it better fits my needs, but is pretty constrained in a house with 8 foot ceilings. My recommendation is the Joe McNally umbrella from Manfrotto. It has a white internal liner that can be removed to use the silver liner underneath it. The black outer cover and the silver liner can be removed to use it as a white shoot through umbrella (basically making a light cannon), and by removing the silver liner and the patch cover on the back you can use it like a smaller soft box. I find it very flexible but it could be overkill in terms of function and cost for the casual user. Use the B&H link on our website to search for umbrellas that fit your use cases
Let’s say that you want to use a hotshoe flash that you already own. If you do not have a set of radio trigger/receivers, get yourself a set from Godox that matches your camera brand. They are very inexpensive and work as well as the camera maker’s own brand for less than 1/5 th the cost at least. The XPro II and XR-1 are all you need. If you already own radio remote trigger/receivers, great. I will caution you against trying to depend on optical triggers as were built into systems for years using the pop-up flash as a trigger. They are extremely unreliable and can induce alcoholism and drug abuse. You can find these at B&H. These links is for the transmitter and receiver for Canon, but they are available for all cameras.
MANFROTTO 420B Boom stand
You will need a light stand. If you do not have a light stand at all, look for a good sturdy one that will go at least 10 feet up, and has a boom arm for when you want to get your umbrella up and over such as for a Hollywood style shot. The Manfrotto boom stand 420B is an excellent choice. It is super solid and includes a sandbag for the boom. You can find it on B&H here. I have several and a couple of clones made in China. There is a substantial quality difference but the China made ones are around $150 CAD so less than the superior Manfrotto
MOLA Demi - A PRO BEAUTY DISH
No need to go buy and fly a beauty dish. Your umbrella will do a great job, unless you are willing to spend money on a professional beauty dish that is specially designed bowl like the inimitable MOLA dishes made here in Canada. Other beauty dishes are nothing more than white or silver lined bowls with a scrim in front. Save money, use your umbrella until you get a gig that will pay for a beauty dish where the umbrella absolutely will not work.
manfrotto cold shoe tilt umbrella bracket
To mount your hotshoe flash to the light stand, you will need a hotshoe flash tilting bracket with umbrella mount. I have bought a number of different ones and for hotshoe flash there is nothing smaller and simpler than this unit from Manfrotto. You can find it here from B&H
Summary
It’s no harder than setting up your umbrella and gear. Point the umbrella shaft at the most important part of your subject, which for portraits is the closest eye and go to it. TTL flash works a charm but if you want to use manual flash, fill your boots. Either will get the job done. Spend as little time on the tech as possible and the majority of your time, engaging with your subject.
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