How to Create Professional Portraits With Just Umbrellas

There are a ton of different lighting modifiers out there, and as a photographer, you can very quickly end up spending a lot of money building a library of different tools for specific looks and purposes. However, you might be surprised by just how much you can accomplish with the humble and affordable umbrella, and this excellent video tutorial will teach you how to get professional results when using them.

Coming to you from our good friend, Pye Jirsa, with Adorama TV, this helpful video tutorial will show you how you can create professional portraits using only umbrellas as lighting modifiers. Though they are extremely affordable and can produce very flattering light, the problem is that they can be hard to control, as they tend to throw light everywhere. This is not always an issue or a bad thing, however, and if you are careful about your light placement and composition, you can often work with umbrellas in spite of this limitation. They are so versatile and cheap that it is worth having a few around (if for nothing more than backup) and knowing how to use them. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Jirsa.