Advice on Brollies

[paulbennett]

Go.... lol
Ill be shooting in a hotel room, and will be trying to replicate natural light. Im after a soft light, ill be shooting with a SB800 on a PW. So not sure which brollie to go for, id want a versitile one, something where i can shoot through or on. Also another Q will the umbrella holder things work on a normal tripod thread?

[cherryrig]

Which brolley bracket do you have at the moment? You could try getting a shoot through umbrella which is just plain white and you fire your flash through it which diffuses the flash. Or trying looking for a silver reflective umbrella so you bounce the flash back from it. Both of these would be very suitable

[paulbennett]

i dont have a bracket atm. Was going to buy one.
so a white or silver reflective one...hmm okies i have see one which does both :) bargain lol

[cherryrig]

I have a bracket which I dont use any more actually

Link to a deal on a white and silver brolly (http://www.jessops.com/Store/s17592/0/Studio-Brollies/Portaflash/Brolly-81cm-(32in)-Silver-and-White-Reversible/details.aspx). Thats the one you want Paul ;)

[paulbennett]

i was thinking these?
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/category/basecategory.aspx?cat03=3110&brand=71

How are they reversable? they're brollies...or is there a sheeting to go inside or on top?

STROBIST Q - "One more thing. Don't bother getting one bigger than, say, 45 inches, unless you are using a more powerful strobe into them. You need the efficiency and reasonable working distance with a shoe-mount flash." 45inches works out to be about 114cm. So the 85cm ones are a good size .... correct?>

[Kev M]

Reversible ones are white shoot thru brollies which have a silver lined cover which fits over the top to turn them into reflective umbrellas. Search for a shop on ebay called fotosupplies they are very good. The size depends on what you are lighting and the effect you're after, 40" ones work fine for me and my flashes.

[cherryrig]

40" is a standard size really. Anything bigger and than it wouldn't work as well as you would not be filling the whole brollie with the flash. Something smaller and you would gte overspill which would ruin the effect which you are trying to get.

[John Harding]

Shoot through brollies go between the light and the subject, because of this they can be placed close to the subject to produce soft lighting. The downside is that the light bounces around and is uncontrolled.

Reflective brollies face away from the subject and the light is reflected from them. The light is more controlled but further away, therefore much harsher.

The larger the brolly the softer the light, but on-camera flashguns often can't 'fill' the brolly so large ones can't be used to their full potential, even if the flashgun has enough power.

[cherryrig]

Some useful links maybe

http://photo.blorge.com/2007/11/25/photography-tutorial-studio-portraits-at-home/
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=445805
http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-cameras/review/2007/02/08/Digital-Photography-Tutorial-Flash/p5

Hope that might help?!?