Shoot through umbrella alignment (Page 2): Damn, bob, you nailed it . My first thought was why waste time and energy on something so insignificant.

Bill P

rmalarz wrote:

I think you're concerning yourself with an issue that doesn't warrant the mental energy.
--Bob

Damn, bob, you nailed it . My first thought was why waste time and energy on something so insignificant.

Photocraig

rmalarz wrote:

I agree with you.
--Bob

Focusing he flash beam (which speed lights DO NO DO, on the center would yield a shadow, maybe. I've got 3 kinds of adaptors and never noticed. Shoot through and regular umbrellas are meant to spread the light and are not precision light modifiers. However they're very affordable and fortunately very effective.

As Bob sez, concentrate on something more meaningful, it will yeld better photos.
C

Kaib795 Loc: Maryland, USA

To really make the most out of this, using a umbrella, we have setup the umbrella on one stand and the light on another so it can be centered to shoot into the center of the umbrella. Another trick is to use gaff tape to flip one flash on top of the other and get double the power output. But of course using a strobe trumps all this and recycles faster. But this small setup uses gear you already have so is a good start into controlling light.

Kaib795 Loc: Maryland, USA

Notorious T.O.D. wrote:

You are correct sir...
My theory is that the Speedlite is not that narrow of a light source and the light will still be bouncing around the umbrella even though shooting through it. Now the other question is does it change if you zoom the Speedlite flash. My 600RTs zoom from 24 to 200 I believe. I am not near my gear today so I can’t run a test either right now...

I would have the flash set to it's widest setting but if you need more light with one flash, use a silver lined umbrella to reflect the light off of instead of through it. It will be a harder light though. Doubling the flashes together solves most power issues but lets face it, a flash just has limited power. You can get more out of a single flash by upping your ISO which wedding photographers do all the time, and most do use flashes. This will give the feel of more power, faster recycling and will save batteries.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

OK, let's look at the horse's mouth, so to speak.

I set up one strobe with a shoot though umbrella. Camera was set to P mode, flash to TTL and commander mode. Both were pointed at approximately the same spot on an off white wall. The first photo was shot with the umbrella mounted in the hole provided in the strobe mount on the tripod. The second photo was taken by holding the umbrella's shaft on top of the strobe, a Nikon SB-800 set to commander mode with no adjustment to the light output.

Essentially no processing was done to either of the images. If there is a difference, I can't see it.
--Bob

ppage wrote:

I'm using a flash stand with a flash bracket to mount a yongnuo flash and attaching a 30" shoot through umbrella shaft to the flash bracket through the little hole provided on the flash bracket. I am noticing that with this arrangement, the flash is not directed to the center of the umbrella but rather above center and I would prefer that it be centered. Is there a way to do this? Is there an adapter I can mount to the flash or flash bracket?

Thanks,

Pat

Mount

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Kaib795 Loc: Maryland, USA

rmalarz wrote:

OK, let's look at the horse's mouth, so to speak. ... (show quote)

I think the main difference would be if it's a reflective umbrella not a shoot through. A silver lined reflective umbrella, I believe, would show a off pattern of light. Always great to see tests done to prove it, like Reagan said; Trust but Verify. Thanks for the follow through.

Haydon

Notorious T.O.D. wrote:

You are correct sir...
My theory is that the Speedlite is not that narrow of a light source and the light will still be bouncing around the umbrella even though shooting through it. Now the other question is does it change if you zoom the Speedlite flash. My 600RTs zoom from 24 to 200 I believe. I am not near my gear today so I can’t run a test either right now...

I believe it was CO who did a test a long time ago with an umbrella and the zoom feature with aspeedlight showing the spread of light. There might be more of an effect with an older or cheaper speedlight with minimized WA zoom. I believe with the diffuser on the 600 it spreads the beam to 16 mm and retracted at a minimum of 20 mm.

wrangler5 Loc: Missouri

This kind of bracket clamps the flash head a couple of inches above the shaft for an umbrella, with the "body" of the flash unit sticking horizontally out the back. This gets your light source much closer to the center of the umbrella than you can get mounting the flash unit on its hot shoe and attaching the umbrella shaft below that. (The bracket is designed to accept lots of other kinds of light modifiers, not just umbrellas.)

I got mine from Amazon, but I'm sure there are other sources, and other brands that have the same functional layout.

Neewer S-Type Bracket Holder with Bowens Mount for Speedlite

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CO

Kaib795 wrote:

I think the main difference would be if it's a reflective umbrella not a shoot through. A silver lined reflective umbrella, I believe, would show a off pattern of light. Always great to see tests done to prove it, like Reagan said; Trust but Verify. Thanks for the follow through.

With a silver reflective umbrella, it's good the get one that has a beaded or pebbled texture on the silver lining. It helps to disperse the light around inside the umbrella. A silver umbrella with a smooth interior lining can give spotty light with lighter and darker areas.

In this first photo, I used my Paul C. Buff strobe and fired into a 64" silver umbrella that has a smooth interior lining. The light isn't really dispersing much inside the umbrella. There are lighter and darker regions. In the second photo, I fired the same strobe into a 40" silver umbrella that has a pebbled texture on the interior lining. The light is dispersing much better. Sorry about the crummy quality of the photos. The windows needed some cleaning.

Umbrella has smooth silver interior

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Umbrella has pebbled silver interior

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CO

Haydon wrote:

I believe it was CO who did a test a long time ago with an umbrella and the zoom feature with aspeedlight showing the spread of light. There might be more of an effect with an older or cheaper speedlight with minimized WA zoom. I believe with the diffuser on the 600 it spreads the beam to 16 mm and retracted at a minimum of 20 mm.

I did these test shots with my Nikon SB-700 flash firing into a 40" translucent umbrella. In the first shot, I had the flash zoom head at its 24mm setting. In the second photo, I used the wide angle panel in the flash head. That gave a wider spread of light and filled the umbrella with light all the way to the edges.

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Haydon

Thanks for the reposting of the images CO. I remember it was you who performed that test and posted here a while back.

ppage Loc: Pittsburg, (San Francisco area)

I did some Youtubing and found this. The speelite head goes into this rig that pivots the speedlite up or down and allows pointing the light at the center of the umbrella. It accommodates many modifiers like softboxes and such. Thanks for everyone's input!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CTCR5XD/?coliid=I27JG6XPLUMS8V&colid=1INSGJGCG86AR&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

Haydon

CO wrote:

With a silver reflective umbrella, it's good the g... (show quote)

I haven't performed any tests like you have but Paul C Buff offer a 7" shallow reflector for umbrellas to keep the light from spilling unnecessarily made for the Balcar mount. When talking to one of the techs a couple of years ago, he said this product is ideal to fill umbrellas. I own 2 of them. I don't use a umbrellas often because I work in a small home studio. I have a pair of 51" shoot throughs and one 64" parabolic. So far with my limited use, I've been happy with the results.

https://www.paulcbuff.com/Light-Modifiers/Reflectors/7-Umbrella-Reflector.html

CO

Haydon wrote:

I haven't performed any tests like you have but Pa... (show quote)

I have that same umbrella reflector. I've had it for a couple of years. I definitely use it when I use umbrellas on my Paul C. Buff DigiBee DB-800 strobes.

wrangler5 Loc: Missouri

Haydon wrote:

I haven't performed any tests like you have but Pa... (show quote)

That particular reflector is designed for monolights with bulbs/flash tubes that extend beyond the body of the device. It replaces the typical parabolic reflector (which will concentrate the light in the center of an unbrella only a foot or two away) and lets the flash tube illuminate the whole surface of the umbrella while the inch-high rim around the edge keeps light from heading straight out the sides. My experience matches Haydon's - this is an excellent reflector to use to fill an umbrella with a monolight.

OTOH, speedlights shoot all their light straight out the front of the unit. There's no light going out the sides of the unit for a device like this to reflect into the umbrella.