At the risk of sounding like a complete IDIOT , could somebody pretty please help me??? I have never used umbrellas and brackets before. I remember seeing a video Wil Crockett did of the right and wrong way to put one on the bracket and stand, but darned if I can find it now. Anyway, what I'm wondering is this... aren't you supposed to be able to angle the umbrella as well as the flash? Or angle the umbrella with the flash?? I'm doing a shot where I want two umbrellas up high and angled down over the group -- but I how can I do that if the umbrella goes in a slot below the part that you can adjust the angle? Or am I doing something wrong? I just don't get it. I didn't get the bracket that was recommended by strobist, but the one they had that they recommended because the other was out of stock (LumoPro 679 from mpex.com).

I'd really appreciate any input, I'm totally lost here and feel like a complete moron! Used softboxes before so this is new to me... oh well, not too proud to ask for help, I guess!!!

You might want to check out this video, it's pretty awesome...

http://www.pduncan.com/strobiststart/

PD

isnt there usually a hole you put the umbrella through? Depending on the flash brand, its either underneath the bulb itself, or through a bracket on the top of the flash head?

Im sure someone will correct me if Im wrong




ETA: ahhhhh ignore me, I thought you were talking about big studio flash heads

Thank you both for the replies!!

PD---THAT's the one I was looking for!!!!! Thank you!!!! I do believe this thing was shipped with the hotshoe on the wrong end!!!! LOL. duh. Gotta go play with it and see, but I think that's the problem. Thanks so much for giving me the link to that video!!! I was frantic to find it last night and finally gave up hoping someone else would know what I was talking about! Thank you thank you!!!!!

YUP, I AM the dummy on the video with the upside down bracket!!!!!! LOL. idiota.

but hey, in my defense, they shipped 'em with the hotshoe on the wrong end!!!!!

Oh my gosh, glad you were being "dumb" and asked this, I have been wondering the same thing, thought I bought the wrong adapter.... GEEZ!!!

LOL, Greta, glad I'm not the only brainless wonder walking around!!!
I thought I'd bought the wrong one, too!!! Just take the hot shoe adapter off and put it on the other side, flip 'er upside down and back on the stand---and wa-la! Off you go!

glad my embarassing post helped you, too!

You can thank Paul Duncan who put together the video. He da man.

My guess is that it's so confusing the manufacturer doesn't even know how to use it. Or at least the person who packaged it

A small umbrella and a portable flash... Beats traveling with a softbox, eh? Just remember to over-tighten the umbrella. Also, if you use it outdoors beware of windy days.

That's a good video. Only thing I would like to see them mention, also, is "do not shoot through your umbrella." And as a corollary, "do not bounce off a translucent umbrella." Either way, you're just wasting flash power and while there's absolutely no benefit to bouncing off a translucent umbrella, shooting through an umbrella just has the same effect as a softbox while wasting power and recycle time.

It's one of those things that, while yes, it "works," it's like like seeing someone zoom their lens with an overhand grip instead of a stabilizing underhand grip. Makes you do one of these:



Cheers!

Matt

LOL, thanks Matt. Funny, Zack Arias is now using his umbrella as a shoot thru.....

I did end up using two umbrellas (bounced-- the white Westcott with black backing) to soften the light and give it a nice fill which was what I wanted for this particular situation. It worked well and I was happy with the results. Here's a few from that session, and although I was happy, feel free to cc away!

pdlarry-- thank you as well, and YES--- it's a great portable set-up! I loved it---soooooo much easier than the heavy stuff I have hauled in the past! I'm looking forward to playing more with it and learning different lighting situations with it.

Not sure I'm following you on this one...? Isn't the point of using a shoot through umbrella to get a similar effect as a softbox...without having to deal with the set up of a softbox? Sure, you're losing some light out the back, which is both less effecient and potentially spilling excess light where you don't want it. But that's the tradeoff for the quickness/lightness/inexpensiveness of the umbrella. Or maybe I missed your point entirely.

Alan B.

Never shoot through your umbrella. It's the green thing to do. Otherwise you're wasting energy.
































I always shoot through an umbrella in the studio.

Add me to the list...it took me awhile to figure out that they shipped it backwards...I couldn't figure out why the damn umbrella couldn't be adjusted! Duh...but that's why we have brains...

Now I don't feel quite as silly...cuz silly/duh LOVES company!!

David Hobby of Strobist explaining why he now uses shoot throughs most of the time.

Add me to the list of people who got an umbrella bracket with the hot shoe on the wrong end. I stared at it for awhile, "Uh........it's not supposed to be like this!" After freaking out a bit, I figured it out and felt sheepish.

Hooray! More company!