Photography umbrellas have been around for years. I’ve seen photographers use them in studios come and associate it with big expensive shoots. But what are they actually for? The answer may be simpler than you expect. In its simplest form, a photography umbrella is there to diffuse light. When working with studio strobes, also known as studio lights, the light often needs to be diffused to make it softer. The difference between soft light and hard light is most clearly explained by the top of shadow that’ll like produces. A hard light is going to result in a very defined shadow. Think about how when you’re outside on a bright sunny day your shadow on the ground is very defined. now compare that to a cloudy day where the light is diffused by the clouds, your shadow is no longer clearly defined . In fact you might not even get a shadow. This is referred to as soft light. when you’re using studio lights, if you do not put anything in front of the lights the light, is going to be a hard light and it’s going to cost a very defined shadow. Traditionally, you do not want hard light when you’re shooting people. the reason for this is that hard light is not very complimentary to skin. It is going to highlight skin imperfection and show off things such as pimples. In order to soften the light, we have to use a diffuser. The umbrella was the first type of diffuser used in photography back in the film days. Nowadays we also have softboxes but we still use umbrellas. Umbrellas at typically cheaper than softboxes and easier to travel with. They are also quicker to setup than softboxes. There are two types of umbrellas used in photography. You have the regular umbrella, and you have the shoot through umbrella. With a regular umbrella you just projecting light into the into the open umbrella and that light is then reflected back onto the subject. With a shoot through umbrella the material is somewhat translucent when you shoot the light into the umbrella some of our light bounces back but some of that light will go through the umbrella and be diffused . Essentially what these umbrellas are doing is making the light source larger and therefore making it softer. An umbrella is a great way to get into flash photography because it is a very affordable tool to help you shape that light. It can be used with studio strobes but more importantly it can be used with regular flashes making it an affordable option for not only professionals but amateur and enthusiast photographers. For more information about the umbrellas we use click on the links below. So now you know what an umbrella is for. I recommend getting a cheap umbrella to practise with and experiment to see what kind of results you get . Good luck!
Why do photographers use umbrellas?
