I bought an 86in parabolic silver umbrella a couple months ago.
Here are the details of when I received it.
I got it because I was planning a shoot with a specific look. My plan was to have the models against the wall or close enough to leave a shadow for a dimension appearance.
I wanted a strait on light source, very sharp on the model to give a dynamism on the very colorful shoot that I had in mind. One of the challenges was the shadow, I didn't want it to be too strong and over power the models.
At the time I had 3 different light sources to choose from, but all fell short of getting me the look I wanted.
-1- A soft-box: it would have left a soft and discrete shadow on the wall but too soft on the models.
-2- A 7in reflector: This would have produced a nice dynamic sharp light on the models but it would leave a too pronounced shadow on the wall. Also the light beam would have been too narrow and cause too much falloff in full body shots.
-3- A ring-flash: I like the look it would have done on the models but not sure that the hallow shadow around the models would have given the dynamic feeling I was looking for.
After much research, it was clear that to get the look I wanted, I had to use a huge parabolic umbrella. The one from Profoto is too expensive. So I took my chances with this $70 parabolic umbrella from Flashpoint.
This was my very first time shooting with the it.
I hadn't even done a test prior to this shoot.
But thank god I got the results I wanted at a great price.
In this photo you can clearly see the details of the shadow but still very soft.
In this shot you can see how direct the light on Maya is. Uniform head to toe.
It makes her skin and the satin outfit almost luminescent with pronounced shadows.
I'll do a more detail review later on.
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