How To Choose An Umbrella

If you’re a new photographer thinking of moving towards off camera photo lighting the umbrellais not only an inexpensive option, but it’s a great versatile tool to begin experimenting withlighting. Umbrellas are usually the first light modifiers that people buy when they begin shooting with their flash off camera, but they aren't just for amateurs. I've used or seen umbrellas used on many pro shoots alongside extremely expensive photo lighting gear. Let’s take a look at the different types of umbrellas and the many options they give you. 

Transparent Or Shoot Through Umbrellas

This is a great starting point for most photographers, and my personal favorite. The other umbrellas we will discuss here are all reflecting umbrellas, whereas this one is used to shoot through and to spread the light. If you’re shooting with small speedlights, your light source is basically a few square inches. This umbrella takes that small light source and spreads it out, giving you softer light without the harsh shadows that a bare flash will give you. 

The shoot through umbrella also gives you versatility; you can bring it in really close to a person’s face for a great classic portrait, or pull it back to spread the light into the rest of the scene. You can get two of these and use one for your key light and one for your fill light. With this simple, inexpensive setup you can make great, professionally lit portraits. 

Bringing the umbrella in close not only gives you a softer light but gives you the perception of more power. If you’re shooting under bright sunlight, you need your light source in as close as possible or it will get lost in the sun. 

Reflective Umbrellas

Here we have a lot more options in types of umbrellas than we do with the transparent umbrellas. Savage offers three different colors, each in two sizes. First, let’s go over the general reasons to use a reflective umbrella:

1) Reflective umbrellas allow you to move the light source farther from your subject without losing much of the light from your flash.  This is great for full body or group portraits. When you shoot with a transparent umbrella from far away, you will lose a lot of your power to light spill. 

2) With a reflective umbrella you have much more control of where your light lands. Because the light is only being reflected, it goes only where you point it. You can also use a piece of gaffers tape to hold the umbrella open only half way to get an even more concentrated light. 

Now Let’s Look At Our Size And Color Options:

First, let’s go over sizes. Each photo umbrella comes in 2 sizes: small and medium (32” and 48” for the reflective and 39” and 47” for the shoot-through). 

As a general rule, the larger your umbrella, the larger your light source, and the softer your light. So why wouldn't you always get the biggest umbrella? Sometimes you might not need the softest light - if you’re shooting a portrait of a man who has worked in the fields his whole life and you want to show the lines on his face you might want a harder light. Also, if you’re just beginning and you don’t have a huge lighting bag, or if you travel a lot, smaller = more convenient.

Now onto the color choices. Reflective photo umbrellas come in three colors: gold, silver and white.  The silver and white are the most commonly used, although the gold has its place as well.Silver reflective umbrellas are going to give you the most light (least light loss) with the gold umbrella eating a little more light and the white umbrella eating the most light. The silver is great if you want cool light and gold is of course perfect for warming up your flash’s light. The white reflective umbrella will give you the softest light, but remember, you will need to up the power on your flash compared to shooting into a silver or gold umbrella. 

Lots of choices right? The great thing about photo umbrellas is that they are inexpensive, so you don’t have to break the bank buying one of each. That way you can experiment on set and see what works best for any given situation. Have fun with them, be creative, and make great photos!