Friday 1 February, 2013   Martin Ziaja   Accessories, Tutorials   12 Comments

Light modifiers – umbrellas (part 1)

In my previous tutorials I focused on either using no light modifiers at all or using more or less handmade modifiers (like the self-made translucent scrim). Now I want to kick off a series about “real” modifiers. Modifiers that are produced especially for photography. I will start with the modifier that offers most versatility for the cheapest price: umbrellas.  And because they are so versatile I split these tutorials to demonstrate  several ways to use them.

Today I want to explain why I chose an umbrella for the following shot and how I used it. Here’s the picture:

tango_030812_140cs2

As you can see, we have beautiful even light, that still has an edge to it and the whole scene is illuminated equally. I wanted the outdoors to nearly blow out, because I wanted to get rid of the scaffolding which was at the opposite building. So that gave me my basic exposure and the flash was only used to illuminate the dancers and the backwall underneath the windows.

To get that even lighting that still has a certain direction, I used a 42″ umbrella in shoot-through mode. That allowed me to point the umbrella directly at my models to get that nice transition from light to shadow in the females face. But this I would have gained with a softbox or a reflective umbrella or alike as well! But with these light modifiers, I would have had lit only the couple and not the whole room! A shoot-through umbrella spills light all over the place.

In my case, I placed the umbrella just outside the frame camera left, to allow the flash to not only light my subject, but to spill the flashlight all over the white wall behind me, using it as a huge (hence soft) fill.

So all I needed here, was just one little speedlight on a stand,  firing in a small 42″ shoot-through umbrella, triggered by cheap Yongnuo radio triggers.

In many occasions, the huge amount of spill light coming from an umbrella is rather a problem than something you would go for. But knowing how to benefit from that umbrella characteristic can help you light huge areas with just a single speedlight.

  • question

    why is the chin shadow hard?

    • Vis X Photography

      I guess because the umbrella is relatively small, not a lot of fill light from the umbrella can bounce to the under-chin, and the ambient light is very low.

      • http://twitter.com/philwidmerphoto Phil Widmer

        The shadow is under the chin because of the placement of the umbrella. Lower the umbrella and the shadow will be reduced or eliminated.

        • http://www.facebook.com/martin.ziaja.9 Martin Ziaja

          That’s right, Phil. But the question was, why the shadow has such a hard edge and not why it is where it is. ;-)

          • http://twitter.com/philwidmerphoto Phil Widmer

            Yes it was, but that’s not what I was responding to. :)

    • http://www.facebook.com/martin.ziaja.9 Martin Ziaja

      Vis X Photography is right: It’s because it’s just a 42″ umbrella which is about 7 feet away from the subject. That’s what I meant with “an edge”… :-)

      • Vis X Photography

        Yes, because the umbrella is only a few feet away, that means the main light (light reflects directly from umbrella to subject face) is relatively strong (the shorter the distance, the stronger the light) compare to the ambient and fill light (light goes throught the umbrella, then bounce to surround walls, then back to the subject at a different angle to fill the shadow).

        If the umbrella is placed further away from the subject, the under-chin shadow will be less harsh. But the “edge” (which give the definition/light and shadow) will be reduced. And the subject will have a more flat lighting.

        If we use a larger umbrella and placed it at the same distance as the original, we should get a bit softer under-chin shadow and retain the overall edge.

        Overall, good tips/reminder Martin. :D

        • http://www.facebook.com/martin.ziaja.9 Martin Ziaja

          No, if you place the umbrella further away, you will get an even harder shadow due to the relatively smaller light source. But it’s correct that if replaced by a larger one, there would be a less distinctive shadow edge transfer. But I (personally) often prefer a look a wee bit more edgy… :-)

  • John

    Camera left…?? Light looks as if it is coming in from the right.

    • http://www.facebook.com/martin.ziaja.9 Martin Ziaja

      Sorry, camera right is correct. My mistake…

  • Kuv

    It’s a nice shot, but there is nothing soft about your key light. It is simply too far away. If you had used any bare-bulb strobe or and speedlight with a dome, you’d have gotten almost the exact same result.

    • http://www.facebook.com/martin.ziaja.9 Martin Ziaja

      First of all, I wanted to have the mainlight not to be too soft, because I wanted the muscular definition in the woman’s lower legs to show the tension of the pose. A softer light would have not revealed that (look at the woman’s legs or the man’s forearm).

      But concerning the shadow edge transfer, you’re right. Using a barebulb flash though, would have two distinct differences: first, it would have a far higher specularity which I not wanted. And – even more important – the reflected fill light from the spill on the wall wouldn’t lift the shadows. So this approach was a better one for the the picture I previsualized.

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