« Umbrella vs. Softbox: a quick comparison | Home | Still alive. »
Another quick comparison: shoot through umbrella vs. bounced /w cover
By Jacob Vorpahl | February 2, 2009
Last week, after I put up the post comparing softboxes and umbrellas, I had a lot of people here and in the Flickr Strobist group mention how much they appreciated the information as well as how useful it was in helping them decide which modifier to go with. I had planned to do a much more thorough comparison, which will be saved for the future when I have time to do it right, but what was most helpful was the pictures comparing the spill and seeing how the light was controlled with either the softbox or the umbrella.
One reader asked if I could put up a picture, using the same set up, of a reflective umbrella bouncing the flash inside, and I thought that was a pretty good suggestion. But, I think I’ll take it one step further. To answer another question floating around forums, “What umbrella should I get: a shoot through or bounce?”, today we’re going to compare the spill and spread of light when using a white satin “shoot through” umbrella as a shoot through as well as a bounce, plus we’re going to throw in another covered umbrella just cover all of our bases.
For our comparison, we’re going to be using a 43″ Westcott White Optical Satin umbrella that I primarily use as a shoot through, but today we’ll set it up as an uncovered bounce. When I say uncovered, that’s refering to a black cover that you can buy to slip on to the top of a shoot through umbrella to increase its efficiency at bouncing light from the inside instead of shooting the flash through it. I don’t bounce light that often using umbrellas, so unfortunately the only one I have to use as a comparison is a 32″ Impact White Satin umbrella with a removeable black cover that will be left on.
The setup is the same as last time. I’m using a 50mm 1.8 prime lens to do a portrait followed by a shot with a 10.5mm fisheye to show where the light goes. The flash is Nikon SB800, gelled with a 1/4 CTO, triggered via CLS. All of these shots were taken in a smallish room at my house, since, unfortunately, I’m still lacking that multigazillion dollar mega-square foot studio (one can hope, though, right?). Again, since most of us aspiring strobist photographers have similiar situations, this could prove to be very useful in helping you get control of your light.
First up: Portraits with bounced flash into umbrellas
First, I’d like to point out that, yes, the picture on the right is underexposed. To keep continuity with the pictures in the other comparison, I kept the same settings so you can get an idea what everything does on the same playing field. So the spread of light you see in these pictures was done with the same flash power and f-stop as the others.
First, as you can see, the smaller 32″ Impact with the black cover is much better at reflecting the light back on the subject than the 43″ Westcott shoot through. The 43″ even has the benefit of the light going through the umbrella and onto a white wall, which is sending it all over the place, yet it still can’t get the same amount of light back onto my face.
One thing to consider though, is the difference in size of the umbrellas. See, when you use an umbrella to bounce your flash, the umbrella now “becomes” the light source. The smaller that light source is, the harsher the light is that is hitting your subject. As it gets larger, the light gets softer. So, with the above examples, note that the the smaller 32″ is sending more light back on to your subject, though it will come a in a harsher form than the larger umbrella. The black cover helps it be more efficient in doing that.
Next up: the spill
Here we see some interesting stuff. That black cover makes a big difference in where your light goes. Most of it is primarily coming back toward the subject and whatever else is in that direction. However, the shoot through with no cover is lighting everything (aided by that white wall). Are either of those results bad? Nope. Just as I mentioned when comparing softboxes and umbrellas, different tools for different jobs. If my goal is to light the whole room, the shoot through with no cover does a darn good job. I’d probably need to either increase the flash power or the ISO, but it does a good job of sending light everywhere. Notice the difference in detail in the Marine Corps “Eagle, Globe, and Anchor” flag in the back? Or the floor underneath the stand? All the same, perhaps you don’t need light everywhere, in which case the covered umbrella does a better job of restricting light spread, though not compared to a softbox. Possibly consider it a cheaper in-between alternative.
Since we are comparing different lighting techniques using umbrellas and their spill, and I already have the photos on hand, how about we take a look at the difference when you use a white satin umbrella as a bounce or shoot through?
Comparing a 43″ white satin umbrella: shoot through or bounce
As far as spill is concerned, thanks to that white wall, there really isn’t too much difference. If you have dark colors on your walls you’ll definitely see some difference when in comparison. However, if portraits are your thing, the obvious choice would be to use a shoot through. I’m getting more light out of my flash at the same power because I can put the umbrella up to the point where it is just out of the frame. If I bounce it, I can only move it in close enough until the the umbrella shaft and flash are out of the picture, meaning the light source is further away, which equals less softness (which may not be too noticable, but it is still there all the same).
I hope this was in some way helpful to those of you trying to figure out this whole strobist thing. Buying lighting modifiers can be somewhat daunting if you don’t know what everything does. I’ve in no way covered everything you need to make your decisions, but hopefully this will educate you enough to be better informed when you do. Leave a message in the comments if you have any questions still lingering or any recommendations for future posts that would help you better understand and visualize some of this stuff.
See also: Umbrella vs. Softbox: a quick comparison
Topics: Flash, Gear, Photography | 4 Comments »
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:27 pm
[...] Another quick comparison: shoot through umbrella vs. bounced /w cover [...]
February 24th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Thanks for the shots. Both this and the softbox vs. umbrella helped out a lot. And yes, I fear your ninja skills.
June 26th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
Jacob,
Thanks for the comparison.
It seems like the umbrella gives out more light because light is bouncing all over the place.
I really would like to know if there isn’t any reflector(walls). Just the impact of light hitting the subject matter without ambient light.
In this comparison, I realized that the umbrella gives out hotspot.
I’m still curious with the softbox. What if you try to put the flash more power on the softbox. I just wanted how it handle hotspot over umbrella.
If I have a softbox, I do it. I don’t trust my DIY enough. It gives me the look that I wanted but really curious about non-homemade SB.
Thanks for taking the time to share.
Muliadi S.
October 29th, 2009 at 12:21 am
[...] Article: Another quick comparison: Shoot through umbrella vs. bounce w/ cover [...]