I have a confession to make: I really like umbrellas. They were the first modifiers I owned, and I shot for many years with them as my main light shaper.
Admittedly, this was not by choice. As a new photographer on a small budget, I picked up gear that I could afford and made it work. Over time though, I found I really liked working with umbrellas and even when the work picked up and I had access to various lite shapers, umbrellas often played a big part in my lighting, and still do today.
So, when I was asked to try out the new line of umbrellas by Glow, I jumped at the chance. I’m always telling people that umbrellas are great for portraits and decided to take this opportunity to put my money where my mouth was, as they say. After deciding I would teach a class on using umbrellas to create various types of portrait lighting, I next thought, how?
One thing I really wanted to showcase was that “umbrella light” is not just one look. There are many types of umbrellas and each had qualities that can affect your final image. For instance, these new Glow Easy Lock Deep Umbrellas give four fabric options: Beaded Silver (bounce), Black/White (bounce), Black/Silver (bounce) and Translucent (shoot-through). Each fabric is available in Three sizes: 41, 51 or 65 inch.
Of course the size of the umbrella you use (relative to the subject) will determine how hard/soft the light is, but the various textures play a major part in the feel of the light from these modifiers. A beaded silver interior will produce a stronger focused light, with good spectacular contrast (highlights), a black/silver is going to produce a more focused light relative to the black/white which is pretty much a go to for most subjects (this one is the surface most often thought of when using umbrellas) and the translucent will produce a somewhat directional light with a nice creamy diffused feel that is great for portraits.
I decided to start with the 65” deep translucent as my key light to create what I knew would be an amazingly soft and diffused portrait light. Keeping things simple, I placed my subject, Brent, in front of my standard grey background and set up a single Profoto light to the camera right. This first image shows how a simple set-up can create very nice results, not only is the umbrella so large the spill light is lighting my background, but the light on my subject is soft and flattering.
For contrast, I decide to jump to the 41″ Beaded umbrella. Immediately the difference was obvious, a “punchier” light, with more defined shadows. Not only the obvious shadows from Brent’s nose, but all the tiny shadows that make up the texture of his skin. This umbrella is excellent for bringing out texture, great for character type portraits or for times when you want to show detail, such as of a nice sweater or a loaf of bread.
One of the downsides to using umbrellas is they tend to be somewhat fragile, but these these new Glow umbrellas are really well built and the new Easy Lock mechanism made opening and closing them super fast and easy. Each umbrella also comes in a slip case to keep it clean and organized in your kit.
Switching to the Black/Silver 41”, we found the light to be very punchy and specular, and adjusting the angle I was able to create low key image, much different than the previous shots with just minimal changes. I think this is really the beauty of umbrellas, while they are simple and reliable, once you get a feel for how they shape light, you can create tons of variations with just a little adjustment.
Just to mix it up a bit, I decided to back the Black/Silver 41” up a bit and bounce the light through the 65” Translucent. This is something I often do with a “frame and fabric” setup that is much more expensive and the results are indistinguishable in this case.
I couldn’t do an “umbrella shoot” without showing the classic Black/White 51” umbrella in action. For this, I placed the umbrella somewhat centered on Brent and just above camera height. This creates a gentle light across his face, not too contrasty, but enough to shape the subject’s face.
Adding a second Black/White 51” umbrella next to the first to form a large overhead light we quickly added some drama to the session.
All in all, I was impressed with these new umbrellas. The construction was strong, the new Easy Lock Mechanism worked great and the color from the fabrics was true. With the wide variety of sizes and textures, I could create nearly endless variations in portraiture, fashion food, or product shooting.
