Umbrellas are the perfect tool for both starters and advanced photographers. It's a great and inexpensive tool to experiment with lighting. They produce a soft light well-suited to wedding and portraiture photography.
Why Umbrellas?
All in one
What makes umbrellas so interesting is their light weight, their portability, their fast opening system, and its affordable price! But when buying an umbrella, it's important to know which one to use for your photography style.
Size and Space
The first thing to consider is size. The choice is a matter of whether you intend to shoot outdoors, on location, or in a big studio.
The Umbrellas
Translucent
A great option for beginners. The translucent is a great option for beginners with no experience with off camera flashes. It creates a very soft light, similar to a diffused window light. What is so great about this kind of light is that it won’t make skin imperfections as visible as a beauty dish or a silver umbrella would.
It’s also interesting when a wide spread of light is required. For example, wedding photographers will love this for group shots, while portrait and studio photographers may use it as a fill light.
Silver and Gold
The definite fashion photographer’s choices. The silver and gold umbrellas are the definite fashion photographer’s choices. They are fantastic in many ways. The light is harder than with the translucent umbrella. The shadows are well defined and the highlights are crispier with less chance of unwanted reflections.
These kind of lights are appreciated when details are key, which is why many fashion photographers use them– they make fabrics’ details stand out like nothing else while being less harsh than a metallic reflector.