After several weeks of waiting, my Flashpoint 7 feet super umbrella finally arrived yesterday! I've always needed a bigger fill light modifier in some of my corporate and advertising photography needs as smaller fill light mods tend to faintly cast shadow. Now fills should always be soft and omni directional visually, casting zero shadows-as a rule-of-thumb. A big mod means softer light. It also deserves a sturdier yet flexible bracket to justify it's great potential.
This Flashpoint umbrella is too heavy to mount on typical umbrella/flash brackets in the market as the umbrella's weak, hollow shaft bends a a bit (too much for yours truly) where it enters the hole of the bracket. Solving this bending shaft issue has moi mounting the Flashpoint onto a to an independent, 2 meter mini boom arm, with a modified umbrella/flash bracket at the tip of it (near the center of gravity of the Flashpoint, left inse
t photo) bracket. A small Velcro strap secures the tip of the shaft (right, inset photo). An added small counter weight can be seen in the top main photo. With this DIY flash bracket, you can control the distance of the Speedlight to the umbrella's plane via the boom's variable telescopic arm. Here, I use a generic Bowens mount T-flash bracket with a small umbrella parabolic reflector mounted. Junior light stands won't do so I used my old Manfrotto 052B as a lighter compromise in lieu of heavy stands like the Matthews stands etc. Will post some artworks soon using this humongous umbrella of umbrellas, so please stay tuned!I'd like to thank Joey Alvero for helping yours truly secure this beast of an umbrella. And Mr. Alvero has always been very helpful to other people as well-a truly unsung hero and a great photographer on his own right. May your tribe increase, sir. Mil gracias, amigo!
