john schroeder Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 The perfect light. All it takes is the courage to look silly. http://www.juergenspecht.com/truestories/?number=1&storypage=2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savagesax Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Love it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim_knight Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Great Idea! Except where I live (South Dakota) the wind blows 85% of the time. I could see problems with holding your camera still! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPT Jones Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Very nice shots indeed!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
screeny Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Believe it or not...3 days ago I bought a white umbrella...for exactly the same idea...now I just have to snatch the construction helmet from the office...and buy a pound of courage to look silly :) At least I know now it works! thx for the post! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v_m_laitinen Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Excellent idea! All it misses is a funny looking face painted to front of helmet. Smiley might do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bernard_frank Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 A great idea. And you can safely shoot construction site as a bonus. Now, not exactly unconspicuous for street shooting (wonder what HCB would think of it) but for more stealth, just replace the SLR by a Leica M and a length of sync cord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conrad_hoffman Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 You young-uns have obviously never seen a Larson/Gowland Soff-Shoulder. There's nothing new under the sun, er, flash! Didn't even need the hat with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vivek iyer Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 I think Carsten posted this link in one of the threads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bernard_frank Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Thanks, Conrad, you made my day. At 63, I love to be called a "young-uns" :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wmwhee Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 That's the spirit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efusco Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Fantastic...Don't think I could ever do it, but I love the idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcallaway Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 I posted a while back about an old friend and mentor using something similar. He had a bare bulb head mounted to hat. He used it for event photography to get good light from the bounce from walls and cielings. He spent a lot of time expaining the had, but I suppose it's a good way to break the ice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg s Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Thanks for the post, I shall remember this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walterh Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 The best part is that you look so silly that you get many smiling faces. The bad part is if you do not look as cute ( I don't) people may smile less ^^. I once had a minolta flash that came with a small (smaller than the one shown here) umbrella that could be mounted on the reflector. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph_wisniewski Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Almost totally ineffective, you might as well turn the flash forward and use a 9 inch Lumiquest diffuser. Virtually no one who uses an umbrella takes pains to make sure that the flash illuminates all (or even most) of the umbrella. This reduces the "effective size" of the umbrella to the size of the patch of umbrella that you're actually illuminating. The average umbrella has a shaft length equal to 1/2 the diameter (obviously) so you need a 90 degree cone of light to illuminate it fully. (You need a wider cone if you don't mount the umbrella at the very end of the shaft. There's a lot of unused shaft in those "umbrella hat" pictures). A flash that zooms at its widest setting to 24mm can't do 90 degrees. You need a flash with a supplemental diffuser, one that matches it to 17mm or 14mm. If you want to use a short shaft, like the one in the picture, you need to give the flash a 180 degree diffuser (like an omni-bounce) and a "spill plate" (the spill plate can be skipped outdoors, because there's nothing for stray light to spill onto... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lance_baker3 Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 I agree that it is ineffective but maybe it will inspire some improved version. One might add a group of six small mirrors about half way down the center line of the umbrella pointing out to bounce toward the umbrella wall. Or we could just turn the idea over to the Rube Goldberg foundation for futher development. For you younguns, he was the predecessor to Wallace and Grommit. http://www.rube-goldberg.com/html/picture%20snapping.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john schroeder Posted June 13, 2006 Author Share Posted June 13, 2006 I would disagree that it is totally ineffective. It's greatest effect might be psychological. Many people don't like their pictures taken in public. If the photographer looks a little silly then they are less threatening. Subjects might be more willing to participate. How can a person with a big umbrella on their head be a threat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilkka_nissila Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 The light looks pretty poor to me. But it could probably easily be changed to give diffuse light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lake_photography Posted August 24, 2006 Share Posted August 24, 2006 I am confused here. I am reading comments that indicate the umbrella helmet really doesn't work but to me the pictures that were taken wearing it seem fine. Perhaps it is just me but I don't see a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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