Umbrellas as light modifiers

Umbrellas/umbrellas/shades are often a good and inexpensive way to soften the light from lightning. Umbrellas are often underrated due to their cheap price, but they certainly offer the best value for money. The light from an umbrella is very soft and works well for traditional portraits.

There are shadows and there are many different sizes of shadows, but mainly they can be divided into three main categories: translucent, reflective and softbox shadows.

Fireproof umbrellas

Penetrating shadows are the safest and most common type of shade. Because the material lets light through, as well as bouncing it, light comes from all directions. This creates a good base for soft light that is suitable for personal photography. Often with a translucent shade and a light room, you don't even need a fill light.

All that makes this shadow good is also its Achilles' heel. With light flooding in all directions, it's not entirely controllable. So if you want to make dramatic and contrasty shots, this is not the shade for you.

Best suited to situations:

• Studio photography with soft light
• Highkey descriptions on a white background
• Outdoor photography ( Watch out for the wind! )

Not suitable for situations:

• Filming with a dark background
• When you want contrasting light
• When you want to limit / control light

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Reflective and parabolic umbrellas

Reflective umbrellas work in the opposite way to translucent umbrellas. Light is shot towards the shadow, from where it is emitted to the target. This allows much tighter control over the direction of the light and also allows the quality of the light to be influenced by the material. The material of the inner surface of the shadow is either white, silver or gold. White provides the softest light, silver the most contrasting and powerful, and gold can be used to warm the light.

A safe choice is the white shadow, which is almost perfect for any occasion. However, if you want sharper shadows and a more contrasting finish, silver is the way to go. A golden shadow works best for outdoor shots when the natural light is also warm.

In addition, we also offer parabolic giant umbrellas. These are at least 150cm in size and are really only suitable for studio work. As the light source is large, the light is beautiful, albeit contrasty. These are ideal for fashion photography.

Best suited to situations:

• Studio photography where you want to control the light a bit more
• Contrasting images
• Outdoor photos

Not suitable for situations:

• Filming with a dark background

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Softbox umbrellas

Softbox umbrellas are reflective umbrellas with the addition of a soft fabric in front of the umbrella. This softens the light even further and also helps a little with directionality. These are best suited for studio work where beautiful soft light is desired. The shadows are also in their element in the courtyard, but note that the extra fabric eats up about half the light output. So even the smallest flashes can struggle to produce enough light.

We recommend softbox shadows Godox AD100 and more powerful flashes. Smaller flashes are also fine for indoor use.

Best suited to situations:

• Shooting with very soft light
• Potretts indoors and outdoors

Not suitable for situations:

• Filming with a dark background
• A really low-power flash