Umbrella and Lightstand Suggestions Please.

[faux_toe]

Hi,

 

Best Free resource on the net! Thank you everyone!

 

I have 2 580 ex's w/ battery packs, 1 430 ex, and an st-e2. I am going to delay

purchasing a mono light as long as I can help it. I like the down and dirty

wireless quick set up and control that the canon system gives me. I have even

used this set up outdoors in pitch black on a farm and things went well enough

for me to be happy.

 

My set-up, 580 + 430 on dual shoe mount on one stand, and 580 on other stand.

 

I am going to buy 2 new light stands because my 8 footers are too cheap and

short. I want to feel good about getting two 11 footers, but most people I know

shoot with 13's. My local cam shop has a used bogen 13' for $60 I was thinking

of grabbing it this weekend just in case. But will 2 11's be enough 90% of the

time. This is for formals of 2-16 people.

 

Umbrellas. Silver loses less light, white is softer. I would like suggestions

on size and color. Is 46" too small? Is 60" too big? Recommend to me what you

use and like.

 

 

What would happen if I warm gelled my 580's, and shot into the umbrella, would I

get that awesome stage lighting effect I drool over or would the umbrella kill

the effect? Are those gold umbrellas more appropriate for this effect. I would

prefer to gel cause gel smaller then an umbrella.

 

Thanks

 

Barclay

[jim olson]

I use a Westcott 43 inch shoot thru umbrella with a pair of 580's at weddings and am very pleased with it.

jim

[david_schilling___chicago_]

The advantage of umbrellas is to give you soft light, however to produce that softness the umbrellas have to be very close to your subjects. You might want to consider simply adding diffusion to your 580EXs and playing with gels as much as you'd like. The Stoffen omnibounce is also available in gold.

[kiva]

Barclay, I also use a 43' Westcott Optical White to shoot through for formals; two 580ex units (with battery packs) on a bracket being fired by one pocket wizard. The bracket can be rotated to shoot higher or lower if needed.

 

I place a Bastard Amber gel on both flash units. The set up is then raised as high as needed taking into consideration how the groupings are set up (i.e. are they on steps or on same level as myself...).

 

My stand extends up to 10 feet high and it's solid as a rock. My stand support does not have legs but it has one round metal plate so kids and family can't and don't knock it over or worry about it.

 

I've read others here that recommend the use of a 60" umbrella in addition to more powerful lighting. So 60" in not to big at all; I find that the 43" works fine: I just point my two flash units slightly to the outside. I can also place a 580ex unit on my camera if need be to supplement the two above (hardly ever needed). To me: this set up creates a slight and natural vignette-like look at the far outside edge of the photo (in the no-people zone) instead of a flat Totally filled with light look which is not all that attractive for my style: it seems to be a matter of personal preference (even though others will disagree on that too!)

 

My set up has worked fine and I can pocket wizard a flash unit and drop it behind the groupings if I want more backlighting of the grouping or the location behind the grouping if needed. Easy set up.

 

I don't notice much difference with my flash units being gelled to be honest but I leave them gelled because it doesn't hurt and I then have the gelled flash ready to go when I want to use it differently; I just leave it gelled to give a slightly warmer and subtle look.

 

Not saying this is "the way" but merely sharing my set up at this point. You can see plenty of examples on my website full of photos from weddings where this set up was used.

[picturesque]

If you are going to use the two light, one on each side, umbrella lighting pattern for formals, 2-11 foot stands would be enough. If you are going to use the key/fill pattern, and sometimes no umbrella, you might want to go for one 13 foot stand for the key light. Remember, unless you always have a ladder handy, sometimes you have subjects standing above you, on the altar and altar steps, so you need to take that height into considertaion. I actually use rather short, compact stands that fold down to 20". They each go up to 7-8 feet but I have a stand extension for my key light that gives me at least another 3-4 feet.

 

I would stick with white for umbrellas and if you use them for formals, I would use the 60" ones. For groups, I don't use umbrellas, but my flashes have parabolic reflectors. For smaller groups, couples, and individuals, I use 40" umbrellas and put them as close as I can.

 

If you're looking for stage lighting, I would put the umbrella-ed light farther back to get a somewhat harder light. I would gel rather than use gold umbrellas. Gels are more flexible.