[Bill Davis] "
In my entire career, I've never come across a single video professional that uses "umbrellas" for lighting....If someone shows up with umbrellas on my set, I think I'm dealing with a photographer who hasn't yet gone too far in their cross-training for video."
Well Bill... I guess you can strike me up as one of those guys you've never seen before, because I use umbrellas all the time. In fact, I was using them today.
I use them for video, 16mm, and 35mm.
I don't, however, use
reflective umbrellas. Rather, I use the ones made of white slightly translucent silk, and I shoot the lighting instrument
through them, rather than using them as a reflector. I use them whenever a softbox might be appropriate, but when I have no need for "spill" control... such as when using them as a key light close to a subject in a very large space, or when using them in a black limbo studio. In those instances, I get exactly the same effect as a softbox. Why use the umbrellas, then? They're simply easier to set up. True, it doesn't take but a couple of minutes to set up a soft box from scratch... but I can pop open an umbrella in
literally two seconds. It takes longer to unzip the grip bag where the speedrings live than to pop up an umbrella. Plus, almost all of the open-faced instruments that we usually use in our softboxes
already have umbrella mounts already made into their yokes... so it really couldn't be easier. I just don't use them when I need to control spill, etc., but in instances when I don't, they work like a charm... and are easier, faster, and lighter than softboxes.
I've seen plenty of other DPs use them too.
And, for what it's worth, I
do relatively know what I'm doing, so I don't use them out of newbi ignorance. I don't quite have the "ASC" behind my name (yet), but I've been a professional cinematographer for a couple of decades now... and not that I count them (because I sincerely don't give a hoot about lucite trophies), I do have a closet full of awards for DP work.
Umbrellas do have their place.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
