Fiddling around with light stands can be tedious, but that’s especially true for wedding photographers who need to keep up and go with the flow of a hectic wedding day. One solution is to bring along different gear—something a little more compact and portable, with less set-up and dismantling steps. Westcott created its ProGrip Umbrella Kits with that goal in mind, and Zach Gray (one half of the photo/mentoring duo Zach and Jody) demonstrates its capabilities in confined spaces.
In this video, Gray shoots a musician’s portrait at The Factory (a shopping center) in Franklin, TN, but more specifically, a tiny alcove off of one of its side streets—a not-so-ideal location, but that doesn’t stop Gray from getting some pretty cool shots. Snapping the 43-inch umbrella into the pistol grip, it opens up like any umbrella would with a little bit of extension, and it collapses into a more portable size of 14.5 inches, too. The benefit to one of these, Gray notes, is that its completely handheld, so — provided there’s a resilient assistant handy (pun intended) — photographers don’t have to tinker with light stand adjustments.
Gray also uses a supplemental piece of “equipment”: a slice of fake crystal. If you don’t know this trick already, Gray explains how it can be used to simulate a subtle lens flare — just an extra something to make a portrait a little more interesting.
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