umbrella, new to this

while at work on break i looked through my b&h catalog (30 minutes a day) and seen an Impact umbrella for $9.95 and $14.95.
well the umbrella is arriving tomorrow so i can play around with that while my cords come.

the thing i want to know, is i read some say with a black backing on it, it is used as bounce umbrella, but if you take that off and just have white, its used as a diffuser.

i bought the one without the black backing, i want to use it for bmx to give a softer flash, as sometimes its too harsh looking.

i was hoping i could use the umbrella as a bounce, with the flash facing away from the subject.

ill play around but i want to save time and frustration, not sure ill use it alot but hey for $15 i might as well give it a shot

Best 15 dollars you will ever spend. I realize I don't need softboxes anymore as long as I have this baby.

You can see the examples done with just this umbrella here
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=582417

But there is one key thing!

When you place the umbrella into your umbrella bracket, make sure it's placed with just 1/4 of the handle through, so that the light has enough space to diffuse, otherwise it may simply shoot a hot center flash through the umbrella much like you see in my first shoot with it.

And place it 3 feet away from the person you are shooting or roughly as close as possible to get as much wrap around as you can.

I'm not sure I see a question in there, and I'm also not sure why you bought the non-cover version if that was what you wanted to use?

But yes, the black wrap will make it a bounce umbrella. If you want that you can cover the umbrella with something dark and get the effect that way (I don't think saving 15 bucks on a new umbrella is worth the hassle though). But why would you wanna do that? Just use it as a shoot-through, the differences between the two methods will be close to impossible to tell in that setting.

If you want harder contrast just get rid of the umbrella. Play around with it and you might come to see that you're better off without it for that type of photography.

The black backing wont make it anymore efficient at bouncing, it'll just control the spill. You can use a white umbrella to bounce or shoot-through.

i would love to use it as a bounce, because my brain says that if you place it in the same spot, same settings, distances and variables, the the bounced light will be better.

sometimes when im doing bmx at night with 1 flash, it provides a hotspot on the area of focus, but then the areas around are hard to see, and the flashed areas are too overdone, if i move it back and use it 100% power its not enough overall.

i shoot alot of wide angle, so my flashes have to be placed behind me or far away on the sides, and im thinking with the bounce umbrella it would provide the best light compared to shooting through it.


i have 2 flashes now, and only bought 1 umbrella

what i want to know, is if my brain is wrong on the bounce vs shoot through for flash output.

i know since its diffusing/bouncing the light, it wont be as strong as juts the bare flash, but im wanting some softer light effect and something to mess around with.

if the bouncing will be better, ill order in another with the black covering

Ridebmx wrote in post #6638550
i would love to use it as a bounce, because my brain says that if you place it in the same spot, same settings, distances and variables, the the bounced light will be better.

sometimes when im doing bmx at night with 1 flash, it provides a hotspot on the area of focus, but then the areas around are hard to see, and the flashed areas are too overdone, if i move it back and use it 100% power its not enough overall.

i shoot alot of wide angle, so my flashes have to be placed behind me or far away on the sides, and im thinking with the bounce umbrella it would provide the best light compared to shooting through it.


i have 2 flashes now, and only bought 1 umbrella

what i want to know, is if my brain is wrong on the bounce vs shoot through for flash output.

i know since its diffusing/bouncing the light, it wont be as strong as juts the bare flash, but im wanting some softer light effect and something to mess around with.

if the bouncing will be better, ill order in another with the black covering

I had the same thought too, but results ended up showing me shoot through was about the same

guess i will enjoy my first light modifier add on!

just have to wait for my flashzebra cable to arrive for the SB-28 flash (ordered wrong one from adorama DOH)

Ridebmx wrote in post #6638953
guess i will enjoy my first light modifier add on!

just have to wait for my flashzebra cable to arrive for the SB-28 flash (ordered wrong one from adorama DOH)

which cable did you order? which one were you supposed to get?