Tutorial: Setting up your flash stand and umbrella bracket.

[KOREAN]

There seems to be questions every once in a while in the flash thread about how to set up a flash stand and/or an umbrella bracket. I've decided to spend a whopping 20 minutes of my busy life to write this for future reference so enjoy it! What you need: 1. Flash stand. I have the Manfrotto 5001b Nano Light Stand $55.99 2. Umbrella bracket. I have the Manfrotto Umbrella Bracket/Swivel $29.95 3. Some way to mount your flash to the umbrella bracket. Read on to see what you need. So here goes. Step-by-step I will include an explanation followed by an image. 1. In the following image you can see a tripod and a flash stand folded up. They're relatively the same size but the tripod weighs much more. That is a Manfrotto 190XPROB with a Manfrotto 322RC2. The silver box is just a snoot holding the umbrella. 2. On the left you can see the umbrella bracket and the flash stand on the right. That little separate gold piece is a stud that allows me to mount my flash onto the umbrella bracket. 3. Umbrella bracket mounted onto the flash stand. 4. Here is that little gold stud screwed into the bottom of my flash. Luckily, the SB-900 comes with a little flash stand that has a hole at the bottom to put that stud in. If your flash does not have that, you're going to have get a shoe adapter that will hold the flash to the umbrella bracket. LumoPro sells an umbrella bracket that already has an attached shoe adapter for$16.99: LumoPro LP633 5. Mounted. 6. Note the direction of the tightening screws and the direction the flash is mounted. This is important! 7. Back view. 8. If you mounted everything correctly, the umbrella should be tilted slightly upwards and the flash should be pointing very close to the middle of the umbrella. If not, turn your flash and umbrella around. 9. Side. 10. Overall.

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[TouringAccord]

added to the Tutorials section of the FAQ

[KOREAN]

Note: The equipment I have isn't the cheapest. I was somewhat of a brand name whore so I went with nearly all Bogen/Manfrotto products.

The LumoPro LP606 flash stand for $29.99 is just as capable but I'm not sure about the durability. It should be fine, though.
http://www.mpex.com/browse.cfm/4,4727.html

As mentioned earlier, LumoPro makes a decent umbrella bracket/swivel for $16.95.
http://www.mpex.com/browse.cfm/4,11776.html

As for an umbrella, a Westcott "32 is a good start. I use a shoot through white one. About $19.

So for less than $70 you have a portable studio :D
edit: you need a flash, too

[Kyle is raaddd]

great write up!!
thanks