Comments on: Shoot Through Umbrella vs. Softbox

By: On Assignment: Mark Edwards | Photography Info

On Assignment: Mark Edwards | Photography Info — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 01:49:41 +0000

[...] why even use a PLM or Softlighter? Why not just a Zack Arias Special 60″ [...]

By: On Assignment: Mark Edwards | On Assignment: Mark Edwards flash | On Assignment: Mark Edwards > | Flash photography | Photography Anime | Nikon Canon

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:02:32 +0000

[...] why even use a PLM or Softlighter? Why not just a Zack Arias Special 60″ [...]

By: Buying my first Lighting kit...need advice!

Buying my first Lighting kit...need advice! — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:51:53 +0000

[...] [...]

By: One Reflective Umbrella | San Francisco Photographer | Paul Pratt

One Reflective Umbrella | San Francisco Photographer | Paul Pratt — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 01:51:54 +0000

[...] Here’s a simple headshot I took about an hour ago. I took it in the basement car park of our apartment complex using a Canon 580EX and a 43″ reflective Westcott Umbrella. I quite like the 43″ but it just doesn’t give out light as soft as I want so I ordered a 60″ (as recommended). [...]

By: bill taylor

bill taylor — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:52:15 +0000

i see the shaft in the top photo has it really choked down. any reason for that?

great info by the way.
thanks!!

bill in belize

By: On Assignment: Mark Edwards

On Assignment: Mark Edwards — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 17:43:24 +0000

[...] why even use a PLM or Softlighter? Why not just a Zack Arias Special 60″ [...]

By: David

David — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 07:24:25 +0000

Hello Zack,
i have a question to this. Does this mean that with a softbox I can better control the background.
I just tried several approaches with the umbrella and I never get the background darkened. I put the umbrella very near to subject, hollywood style and took the subject 2 meters away from the backround. closed and darkened the windows. the umbrella is also a small 32″.
Do you think it would be easier to have a dark background with the softbox?
cheers
David from Madrid, Spain

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:49:48 +0000

Zack, your works are amazing. Can you explain? When we using umbrella shoot through we have rounded modifier, and so if we put it near model we will see that our 60″ will be smaller, cause its front part will be the nearest point from subject to light source and it will be hottest point? is it right? so it means that if i want a big lightsource near the model i need soft boxes only?

PS sorry for my english…

By: zack

zack — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:09:28 +0000

Katie -

1) You can easily cover 10 people with a single 60″ umbrella. Plan on using 1/2 to full power and try to get around 5.6 on the group. Fly the umbrella directly over your head when you are shooting in the center of the group and you’ll be fine.

2) There really isn’t “too” large of a size. I mean, once you get to 6ft or more in size then you probably are getting too large of an umbrella for a speedlite. Otherwise, your standard 60″ will be fine.

Cheers,
Zack

By: Katie

Katie — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:05:07 +0000

2 Quick questions about size benefits/setbacks of shoot through umbrellas.
1) How small of an umbrella can you use to evenly/smoothly shoot a group of say roughly 10 people? I plan on using two speedlights, most likely one on either side of the group.
2) How large is too large to use with a speedlight? At what point does the umbrella overpower the flash.

Thanks!