Shoot the Umbrella

I'm still practicing with my speedlights for Vegas. I read somewhere that to understand the amount of light spread in the umbrella to shoot the umbrella and see for yourself. Clever!!

To get the most light spread in my umbrella, I need to use the zoom feature. The left is 105mm, the right is 14mm. Since I almost never use my flash, I never even used the zoom feature. Now I get it.

I shot my shoe on my bed for a test. As a photographer you'd think I could do a fancier test. But I'm a lazy photographer at best. In one image, I couldn't even bother to remove the umbrella bag. That's lazy.

The left is 105mm zoom, no modifier. The middle is 14mm zoom with a silver umbrella. The right is 14mm zoom shot through a satin umbrella. It's amazing how the highlights change and how the color shifts. But now I have a better idea how to use my flash and accessories. Once it stops raining, I'll test it all outside in full sun.

And of course, I had to do more self portraits. Most of the people I shoot won't have a plastic sheen, so I wanted to see how it all worked on skin. The satin umbrella is probably my favorite, but in order to light less of the room, the silver umbrella works best. Honestly, straight flash on 105mm will spread the least amount of light, but the shadows are way too harsh.