Check out my mega umbrella...
 

Picked up a 60" umbrella tonight. I'm a little worried it might be too heavy for my lights. Thing is so heavy that the umbrella shaft can barely support the weight... it flexes a little more than I'm comfortable with.

http://serialmedia.com/umbrella.jpg

The chicks will be all over you

Man buy Profoto get rid of that alien bee

I have TWO 60" umbrellas on my Profoto heads i hope the chicks dig me.

Well, as nice as Profoto are... and as much as I try to ignore price, I'd say Profoto lights fall under the "too fucking expensive" category. I'm not sure a $10,000 lighting setup is entirely worth it. The Alien Bees have gotten me by just fine for about 8 years now. They cost me around $800 for the 2 light kit.

I have been thinking about upgrading to Speedotron Force 10's, however.

I was just kiddin.. but profoto is the best for many reasons. Fast, consistant out put in every shot and did I say super fast!

Below are Two 60" Umbrellas on Profoto heads.
http://www.bangingmodels.com/images/60.JPG

Those are nice looking umbrellas. Do you have any samples of images taken with the silver lining?

I've been avoiding shooting with my silver umbrellas lately because of the specular quality of them. They have way too much of a "focused" beam and for some reason mine are kinda difficult to meter... with the ones I use they have hot spots that alter the meter readings as much as 2 stops in any particular point.

Anyway, ever since I switched to using either white with black backing, or white shoot-through umbrellas, I've been quite happy with the results.

It doesn't matter what heads you have under your big 60" umbrellas, you just need to look lower and either buy new lightstands or invest in a couple well placed sandbags. Oh and by the way I love my dynalites.

SOrry for the naive question, but how do you meter when you flash? I mean, by the time the flash has gone off, the photo is taken isn't it? so when do you take a flash meter reading? Or do you take the meter reading and "know" how much the flash is going to add?

Looks awesome, Noah.

All metering is taken using an incident light meter. I use the Sekonic L-358, with the Pocket Wizard trigger accessory.

When you're shooting with non ETTL strobes, otherwise known as monolights or pack systems, there is no auto-exposure. The incident light meter manually measures the output of light from the strobes, allowing you to know what aperture you need to set your camera to in order to get the correct exposure.

Thanks, Gene :thumbsup

The bodies of these Alien Bee strobes are made of plastic, and due to the design of these units, the umbrella rod passes through a mount on top of the strobe.

The weight is a bit excessive, meaning with all the plastic parts involved there's a chance of breakage. All the strain is on the light itself.

The light stands are pretty light-duty but they're not bad for what I use them for.

I don't think the lights are really designed to accommodate such a heavy umbrella hanging off it.

How many watts do your Alien bees have?
I have a one studio with 500 watt and must say it's totally over-proportioned for any in-door shooting. Even a cheap flash with lower wattage would have done the job.

I will post some samples for ya to see how well they shoot and yes they are very vivid in detail due to them being silver specular. They are also great for HD Video as they bring out all the fine detail.

You may be getting hot spots due to the exact reason I told you that Profoto is the best when it come to quality and " Consistency " and most important even light from tip to tip.
Broncolor, Norman and Profoto make the absolute best umbrella and reflectors hands down. Yes they are extremely pricey but that is for a reason.

If you use Profoto umbrellas, you will not get un even hot spots. That is why they cost $1500 to $1800 for 5' to 7' ubrella/reflectors.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._Umbrella.html

Is it raining where you are then?