umbrella and 430ex ii

[Brandman]

So i just purchased a 430ex ii and also bought a stand and flash mount for an umbrella. A girl at my school gave me a white umbrella that measures about 4 feet across. do you think that the 430 will fill a 4ft umbrella and what is the difference in the size umbrellas. sorry if this is a dumb question i am just now getting into flash photography

 

[Buckster]

So i just purchased a 430ex ii and also bought a stand and flash mount for an umbrella. A girl at my school gave me a white umbrella that measures about 4 feet across. do you think that the 430 will fill a 4ft umbrella and what is the difference in the size umbrellas. sorry if this is a dumb question i am just now getting into flash photography

The bigger the size, the softer the relative light, all else being equal (amount of light, distance to subject).

Set it up, use as much of the shaft of the umbrella as possible to get the umbrella and the light separated, adjust the zoom on the light for wide angle coverage, then step in front of the set up and point the camera directly at the face of the umbrella so that you get the whole umbrella in your viewfinder, take a shot, dial the exposure up or down as needed till you're hopefully looking at detail on the umbrella, and see if the light fills the umbrella, or if there's a hot spot.

Either way, it'll work to soften the light.

 

[KmH]

Umbrella size also determines the type of shot it can be used for. You can vary where on the shaft where you clamp the umbrella in the mount to adjust how much the umbrella is filled with light.

For the softest light and most diffused shadow edges (shadow wrap) you will want the umbrella as close to the subject as you can get it. So the umbrella can be used in both a shoot-thorugh mode and a reflected mode.

A 48" umbrella can be used for up to 3/4 length, single person portraits.