Off Camera Flash and Umbrellas

[monkeypants]

I'm looking to do some basic portraits for friends and family and need some advice on off camera flash.

The pictures will be taken indoors at their homes so space may be limited and I need to be able to transport the setup in my car. I would like two off camera light sources.

I have been looking at soft boxes, but these are large and bulky. Now I've started looking at umbrellas and wireless flash units. Can anyone recommend an umbrella/flash holder that doesn't raise the flash way above the centre of the brolly or is adjustable in such a was as to allow the flash to be pointed at the centre?

What size umbrella would be best? Larger the better I assume, but space in people's houses could limit this, what would be minimum?

Also; I own an SB700 currently, is there another (cheaper) flash unit that will allow iTTL and my D300's commander mode to be used? Or alternatively, should I get a wired or wireless trigger set? If so, are the cheap wireless triggers ok? (reviews seem to suggest so). Wires would be a bit of a hassle given I don't know exactly where I'll be able to position the brollies in relation to the camera so may cause trouble; I'd like to go wireless if it's reasonable to do so.

Or

Should I look for a set of umbrellas with flash bulbs? I've seen some online but I have no idea how they're triggered. Can anyone explain?

Oh, lastly, should I fire through a transparent umbrella or reflect off one? I understand one disperses more than the other, which would be a better effect for group photos?

 

[Nexus]

I've not quite decided still yet on which modifiers I'm buying for my strobes, so you can't take my advice as gospel, but I've done a fair bit of research on it.

If you are worried about the compatibility of bits and pieces, perhaps go for an umbrella kit. Many companies make specific kits which include everything designed for your flash. Lastolite certainly do them, as well as soft box kits, which I think are better than an umbrella as the light is softer and doesn't throw it everywhere. They are collapsable so ideal for setting up at locations.

Triggers that offer TTL are more expensive as you have already said yourself. So your options are either manual triggers, which isn't such a bad thing as manual control lets you set everything the way you want consistently and you learn what your lights are doing... most people shoot like that anyway. You could also just get a long TTL cord and move your main flash off camera.

When you say a set of umbrellas and flash bulbs, I assume you mean a studio kit with proper studio flashes. I'm not sure how good cheap kits are, but ultimately they will be more weight to transport than strobes.

 

[AHarvey]

Best thing you can do in a house with limited space is probably to bounce the light off the wall and ceiling, can look like very natural light.

But a basic stand, clamp and brolley is easy to carry and use. Size wise really depends on how close you'll be getting. Smaller ones can give the same effect as the bigger ones, it's just a case of moving them closer or further from the subject and playing with the power.

 

[BruceLee]

When I started last year I just bought the cheapest shoot through umbrella off of the rainforest as well as an adjustable flash stand. Umbrella doesn't hold up to continued use (the arms break relatively easily) but they were fine if you just use them indoors. I bought a 24" softbox also and it's much better than the umbrellas, for one thing you don't get a visible umbrella in any reflections in the photo (glasses etc) but the light falloff et the edges is more pronounced.

I agree with Nexus in that it will be much easier for you to shoot using manual settings on the camera and flash, you can control everything and get consistent shots each time, TTL for multiple flashes will probably be too inconsistent, but I've not used that type of setup so can't comment really.

I have 4 Yongnuo RF-603 triggers and they work very well. I have a SB-700 and 2x YN-465 flashes. You don't really need that much space for simple single portraits/head shots, but for larger group shots you will need a good sized living room. What about doing some shots in their garden or outdoors in the evening, you can use the sun (if it ever turns up this year) as a light source and just use the SB-700 as main light, that way you could use TTL via D300s commander mode.

Read http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/ and look at the Lighting 101 or 102 archives on the right hand side.

I would recommend doing some test setup shots first to get your head around settings as it can be a bit daunting at first.