Is this a good choice for portraits

Right now I have a 430ex II and I really want to start doing a few portraits of friends and family to get a better understanding. Would this be a good starter umbrella? http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …sible_Umbrella_​Flash.html

sure.

Great umbrella, I have two of them that are in my travel kit for events.
The deal you linked has a good cold shoe adapter and it looks like a reasonable light stand.

The umbrellas themselves are about $17 if I recall what I paid last time.

I'm in the same boat; single flash (580EXII), may try portraits. It'll be interesting to see what others say about this set-up. Maybe I'll get a 430 and a pair of these.

Awesome thanks guys.

I have that kit. It's worth the money. Now I am going to nitpick it:

The stand, I really like. For what it is meant for, it's what it needs to be. It is light, has a small foot print and feels solid making it good for a portable set up. It doesn't have air cushions, but that would add to the weight and it would be overkill for speed lights and a light umbrella.

The bracket pretty much sucks. The tilt is pretty much all or nothing and doesn't adjust smoothly like my Impact brackets. The cold shoe doesn't come off. This means if you have a hot shoe you need to use, you have to connect to this cold shoe and have extra gear on the stand. It doesn't rotate so if you are using Canon optical triggering, you can't turn the flash at 90 degree angles to see the master better. Finally the umbrella shaft and flash head do not form a triangle so the flash hits the upper part of the umbrella and not in the center. I have these two Impact brackets and they both are much better. I like the $25 one more though:

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …cket_with_Adjus​table.html

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …117_Umbrella_Br​acket.html

The cold shoe on the cheaper one is crap and I bought a new one that is lower in the center so it doesn't short the pins on the flash when installing the flash.

Lastly the 43" trifold umbrella is good, but I just like my Westcott 45" one so much better. Here is that one:

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …Umbrella_White_​Satin.html

The black cover is so much easier to take off and remove. The 43" one has a cheap plastic screw to take off the black cover. I haven't done it yet, but that thing is bound to cross tread and destroy itself. The 45" one folds up longer because it is not a tri fold design, but quickly stows because it only has a single Velcro strap that wraps around itself. The 43" one has this little bag to put the umbrella in when you are stowing it. You would have an easier time putting the contents of a can of silly string back into the can than getting the cover bag back over the 43" umbrella.

So getting the 45" umbrella and $25 impact umbrella bracket already puts you $55 plus another $30-35 for an equivalent stand to the Westcott, rr buy the Westcott one itself, so this will cost a little more, but IMO its much more bang for the buck.

FEChariot I ordered what you posted. Thanks!