Memory (of a memory) of a Dream

This shot came out of a quick light-test I did last night. I’ve been using umbrellas off and on for a while, but I’ve pretty much always been shooting through them to create a kinda soft, but hard to control light that spilled all over the place. Yesterday, as I was driving back home, I got the idea to try to use a reflective umbrella, with the strobe close to the center, as a giant beauty-dish type of light, coming at the model from a bunch of different directions at the same time and filling in all the shadows. Seemed to work. On top of that, I added a second smaller umbrella on the bottom for even more fill light. I kinda like this setup for tight portraits, I think.