Lighting with umbrella

[Tom J McDonald]

Hello folks,

So I've been doing a fair bit portrait photography using a single flash with an umbrella lately.
Sometimes I'd like the light to be more concentrated/directed than it is with the umbrella; it just goes everywhere.

Are there any practical methods of directing the light and having more control over where it goes using an umbrella? I'd like sometimes to keep it away from the background etc...

Thanks in advance!

Tom.

[vinny]

An umbrella is the wrong choice if you want to control spill. You can get fabric grids for some models though. You'd be better off going with a direct source say through a softbox w/grid or other modifier with grid. Moving your light to the side always helps get it off the background as well but you know that.

[Alan Gales]

You can tilt your umbrella to the side away to control the quantity of light but you will still get soft lighting like Vinny said. Barn doors are cheap and fantastic for dramatic lighting. They give you a lot of control.

[Jim Michael]

Some controls (http://www.filmtools.com/flagcutandfl.html) to use with your umbrella. Also use inverse square law to your advantage and move away from the background. The softbox with grid would really be the way to go though.

[Alan Gales]

One more thing to add. If the flash with barn doors is too harsh for the look you are after then just hang some gauze over them to soften them a bit.

[lenser]

Tom,

If your umbrella is backed with black cloth you are in better shape for controlling spill out the back as just white or shoot through are pretty tough to get any control of scatter light. It just goes through and bounces all over the room.

If black backed is what you have, you can make decent barn doors from black corrugated plastic material that almost any plastics company (at least here in the states) has. I think it's called chorplast or something like that. Attached with really strong double sided office clips to each side of the the umbrella, it allows for movements in and out and serves to both gobo the light off the background and tunnel it toward the subject.

Umbrellas are still better used for fill light where they are directed at the subject and are just to fill shadows.

You get way more control of both the light direction and spill from a soft box. When you feather those away from the background, the recess does a great job of controlling spill. Adding an egg crate style of grid helps much more.

As with umbrellas, the bigger the source, the softer the light.

[Tom J McDonald]

Thanks guys.

I have been movng my umbrella so it doesn't shine on the background but I've been very worried about flare since it's pointing at the camera. Although I haven't had a problem the two times I've done it (noticeable to me anyway).

I have been considering a soft-box as I have heard also elsewhere you can more easily control/prevent spill.

Tim, the idea about the makeshift barndoors sounds attractive, and also similar to what I had in mind (although I was just thinking of hanging some dark cloths over where I would like to prevent light shining.

My umbrella is actually backed with black material, but it has silver inside it.

My biggest problem I think is the working space I have. It's frustratingly small and the light just illuminates the whole room!

Thanks guys.

[lenser]

Tom,

Only my opinion, but you couldn't give me a silver umbrella. I like soft light and silver is super specular and bright which for me is just a big FORGET IT. In studio, I only use white umbrellas for fill and then only in line with the subject's nose to avoid any possible double shadows.

In the field, as in an in-home portrait, they are okay (maybe better than a soft box) because in a large family room, you actually do want lots of bounce light as well as directional so you illuminate the room as well as the subjects. Natural fall off will keep the subjects as the center of attention, but still allow detail to be seen in the background unless the room is super deep.

Those sheets of plastic material I mentioned actually come in 4x8 sheets. They are also quite inexpensive, so you could buy two or three and use them as big gobo's on either side of the umbrella to block light from both the background and the lens. Very light weight, so just balance them against a stool.

[Tom J McDonald]

Tim,
I have been unhappy also with the way the light looks on people. But I thought it was my technique. It looks harsh and contrasty, like bad household lighting or something.

I'll try a white-lined one and have a look how it goes.

[Frank Petronio]

Well it is where you aim it ;-)

A smaller umbrella might be better, as would getting your lighting as physically close as possible to the subject, just outside the camera's framing. I've even retouched out umbrella stems if needed.

[lenser]

Frank,

Don't you find that a smaller umbrella is even more specular? I've always had that reaction and tend to go toward the larger (softer) in spite of space even though that risks more spill. Agreed with closer the better, especially as that works with the closer is softer effect.

Tom, are you using any sort of reflector to help balance your highlight to shadow ratio? If not, almost anything can be used from a white or ecru pillow case, to a sheet of white poster board, or a panel of styro foam. Then again, those pop out reflectors are very convenient and the gold side is wonderful to add warmth to skin tones. That will help, even if you continue to use silver.

[Tom J McDonald]

Tim,
I'm using a windscreen shield. The silver reflective thing you put on it when it's very hot. It's OK but I'd like to get something bigger.

Edit, whoops I said silver again!

[Frank Petronio]

Smaller would be less spill. I actually use a small 24" silver for head shots but I light people harshly on purpose, I doubt it would fly with most mainstream customers and the retouching would be a pain....

In general the getting the source as close as possible and adding gobos is the key.

[Tom J McDonald]

Frank Petronio,
Thanks for the advice. I had a look at your FLASH website. Please let me know how you lit Alysha in the SFW section. I like the light and it's similar to what I'm getting at the moment. Would you consider it harsher than normal?

Thanks.
Tom.

[Jim Michael]

Two factors affect the softness of your source: diameter of source and distance of source to subject. Two sources, one large and one small, can both appear to be of the same light quality when they subtend the same angle when viewed from the subject (i.e. the larger source is further away). You can think of a broad source as an array of point sources where each one has a distance from the subject that varies by pythagorean theorem, and hence varies in intensity by inverse square law. Do the math and look at what happens to the ratio of brightness from center to edge when the source is close vs. far away. Bottom line, for soft light get the broad source close to the subject.

[cjbroadbent]

Have a look, in google books, at "Lighting Techniques for Low Key Portrait Photography" by Norman Phillips.
He explains how a deep umbrella keeps things under control.
I find that an umbrella feathers nicely, both background and near foreground, when the lamphead is placed within the edges of the brolly, and is pointed across rather than down at the subject.

[Frank Petronio]

That recent photo of Alysha I think you refer too is obscenely harsh to me and most photographers, and only because she has a really strong self-image and natural beauty can I get away with it ;-) You won't have many happy subjects if you light them that way but it's all art, right? It's also exposed and printed differently, normally she would have larger burnt out areas if done traditionally, you'd toss it as a mistake.

All I did was put a very bright light into a small silver umbrella immediate to her side. She was close enough to the background that it feathered-spilled enough to boost it too. I like one-lighters, I don't care to light the background separately unless I have a studio where I can pull back far enough that the subject can have 10 feet or so of separation. But in that picture's case it was very close in a small room, as you do too.

Of course you could simple walk the light forward and get more of her face lit, then diffuse the light (shoot through something) or bounce it off a wall or white board, etc. and this would be more pleasing and normal to most people.

Use a Polaroid or digital to preview until you're happy. Use a patient stand-in. Experiment.

Also I endorse and follow everything CJ Broadbent says, he is the absolute master of lighting and most other things photographic ;-) Finding some deep umbrellas would be really nice, I should get on that, they would work nicely.

I agree that most people think the lights need to be overhead... they don't. Level with the head is just fine. Watch what the shadow off the nose is doing, the eye in shade, that will make or break it. Expose for the highlights.

Finally, I grew up using strobes, Chimeras (softboxes). Most people use them. They work well but it gets really boring after 20 years to still do the same old thing. Umbrellas and boards and walls are really versatile, inexpensive, and full of enough potential and variation as to keep me occupied forever so soft boxes are banned (unless it is a commercial job and I have to rent and do something more vanilla).

[Tom J McDonald]

Frank Petronio, thanks for all the advice. I like the defined edges of your lighting and don't really think it's obscenely harsh. Maybe I just don't know enough. Did you use a reflector?
I have been experimenting with my cranky girlfriend (she's 39 weeks pregnant) every day. I am getting there.

Thanks to all, maybe I should post some pictures soon.

[Frank Petronio]

No reflectors and fill are for pussies, be decisive!

[Tom J McDonald]

Got ya!

[sultanofcognac]

try a snoot!

[Tom J McDonald]

so does a snoot project a more focused beam of light?

[lenser]

Not focused in the same sense as with a spot light which includes a focusing lens system, but concentrated and controlled to a small and circular area. You would have a strong/bright core area of light, with a slightly fuzzy edge and then an immediate transition into dark.

As with any light modifier, you will have a projected area that is smaller as you get closer and larger as you move it back.

[D. Bryant]

Got ya!

Take a look Atlanta photgrapher Zack Arias blog on light modifiers, perhaps that will help clarify some things for you.

http://www.zarias.com/modifiers-from-day-03-of-my-creativelive-class/

And I agree with Frank about the small silver umbrella being effective as a fill with out a lot of spill. You can also partially close a small black backed umbrella to help controll the size of the fill. There are so many ways to light things but having a very small studio adds an extra burden to controlling spill. I would also recommend a smaller softbox or a vertical SB.

A beauty dish is also something to consider, they can be very versatle using it for the main light and a small black backed umbrella for fill. You can even use a single speedlight to light the background if you work the setup a bit.

Use a DSLR as an elecronic Polaroid and you can adjust your setups with additive lighting if you wish building the scene lighting as you go with each light. Just do this before your sitter arrives if doing portraits as frittering around with lighting tends to distract the sitter and suck the energy out of the session.

Good luck,

Don Bryant

[Tom J McDonald]

Nice blog.

I'm gonna just keep practicing and experimenting with different ways of using the umbrella.

Cheers.

[Tom J McDonald]

OK.
Well I've had a lot more success now feathering with the umbrella and attempting to mask some of the stray light. I'm getting a lot more control over where the light goes now.
I've exposed about 10 sheets of film but ran out of fixer so can't get any for a couple of weeks.
Thanks for all your help.

Now I just need to start to control the contrast a bit better.

[D. Bryant]

OK.
Well I've had a lot more success now feathering with the umbrella and attempting to mask some of the stray light. I'm getting a lot more control over where the light goes now.
I've exposed about 10 sheets of film but ran out of fixer so can't get any for a couple of weeks.
Thanks for all your help.

Now I just need to start to control the contrast a bit better.

Also not emphasized in the previous comments is the use of scrims. I use black gator foam. Controling spill can be the most difficult to over come in a small studio.

[Peter De Smidt]

Don, wouldn't black gator foam be a flag or gobo? Scrims let some light through.