How Far to Place the Flash from the Umbrella

One question I get asked a lot by photographers using shoot-through umbrellas is, “How close do you put the flash to the umbrella?” This is a pretty reasonable question, because the umbrella’s shaft can slide in/out of the swivel mount, and it’s not really obvious where it goes. I always put my umbrella all the way out—as far away from the flash head as possible—for two reasons: (1) when it’s far back like that, it will fill a larger amount of the umbrella with light, so my light source becomes larger, which makes the quality and softness of my light better, and (2) I don’t get a big “hot spot” in the center of my shoot-through umbrella from the flash being too close to the umbrella. We want the light to spread out and get soft—not just co....