At 1:33 that light is way too close to the umbrella. You're barely using any of the surface area of the umbrella at that point. The light is going to be hard or at least harder than you might want. Unless that's what you wanted just then. I see this all the time in videos, though, and I just hope they know to back the umbrella out and have the light fill up as much of the umbrella as possible to get the softest light possible.
I just got the glow 51" version of this with a silver/black backing after trying to figure out how to control the light from my 480 and 660 led panels better. I had already tested out some 33" umbrellas to great effect but wanted better control so next was black reflective umbrellas with these "jellyfish" diffusers but 33" was too small bc the led blocks maybe 25% of the light. I had already devised a method of turning one of the diffusers into a reflector when I stumbled across the brolly boxes and found a 'like new' one for $10. I want to compare the light to a lantern softbox soon but honestly I was already quite satisfied with my results from the led panels(which have barn doors) to begin with - it was already such a significant improvement over my self made softboxs with deflector setup, truly next level improvement for video. Now I have a Godox 32 inch speedlite(which I'm downsizing to 24 inch cause it's freaking HUGE) as a key light, this Glow 51" brolly box as a fill light and a Neewer 12x63" strip as a backlight(although I'm considering a 4 point setup with the brolly box over head and the strip facing behind me with keeping the the 32 inch for fill).
I used to use nothing but medium to large softboxes to light with. Now i'm doing lots with umbrellas. Size, weight and cost to get very soft lighting is insane. I fly lights on grip arms now. If I use a softbox I have to break out a kupo baby boom. the balance is so easy to get and almost worry free compared to a 3x4 softbox. Right now my overhead light source is a 5 foot silver umbrella with a diffuser. That's in a shoot space with 8 foot ceilings. A hell of an overhead lightsource for 60 clams. I wish I could find a black panel to fit it I think it would be great to use with it.
Agreed. At the cost of the brolly box, this makes it completely worth it. Adorama (check out the link in the description) has a great one and it's cheap! Mine was stolen and I'm just going to buy another
@@YvensBPhoto so I found a back panel that should fit my 60 inch umbrella. Adorama was selling a used 65 inch back panel for 12 bucks. I've got elastic cord and clothespins I'll make it work.
Well, both brolly and umbrella mean the same thing but a softbox is a little softer. But most importantly, the distance between your light and your subject is the most important factor for softness.
