Why I Don't Use Umbrellas as Photography Light Modifiers

Why I Don't Use Umbrellas as Photography Light Modifiers

The umbrella. The quintessential light modifier, right? Wrong! Over the years, I've developed a rather severe umbrella aversion. Umbrellas are an enemy that never find a spot in my camera bag, and I'm about to tell you why!

Note: When I say "umbrellas," I'm referring to umbrellas designed to be used as umbrellas. Softboxes that use umbrella-style structures but still function as softboxes naturally would be somewhat exempt from my fiery wrath.

Because Umbrellas Lack Control

Years ago, I heard a photographer describe umbrellas as light grenades, which is completely true. Umbrellas make soft light and blast it in a huge, wide arc that sends the light bouncing all over the place throughout your scene. Personally, a big part of why I use light modifiers is to control the light. Umbrellas make this next to impossible. If you just want some soft light, an umbrella can certainly do the job. If you want light that you can shape and control to illuminate the scene to match your creative vision, they fail miserably. 

Because Umbrellas Waste Power Output

Remember that bit about umbrellas lacking control and sending light everywhere? Well, that light needs to come from someplace. A light source only has a finite amount of power, and if you send that power in a billion different directions, most of it isn't going to go where you want it to and is effectively going to be wasting your flash power. This isn't such a big deal if you are in studio working with large strobes that have more than enough power, but as soon as you find yourself pushing the limits of a flash's output, such as when trying to overpower the sun or when working with high speed sync, that loss in power from an umbrella can be the difference between being able to get the shot you want and not. 

Because Umbrellas Are Flimsy

Umbrellas have a thin, open-ended structure designed to be lightweight and cheap. This makes them fragile. Through my career so far, I've used softboxes almost exclusively and never broke one. I've used umbrellas very rarely and broke several. I like my gear to be reliable, especially when a client is trusting me to deliver on a promise. Umbrellas add risk to that promise. They also act as mighty sails as soon as any wind shows up on location. 

Why You Should Still Consider Using Umbrellas

Wait, what? After all his fervent hatred, this fool is still telling you to use an umbrella? Yup, he is. I used umbrellas quite a bit before I expanded to a variety of softboxes. Why? Umbrellas are cheap! As someone new to using light modifiers, do you want to learn with a $10 umbrella or a $200 softbox? Umbrellas are a great stepping stone to get started modifying flash. They are also very light and easy to transport. I now drive a big truck filled with gear to every shoot. I used to take a bus or walk. Umbrellas are way easier to transport when all you have is yourself to carry your entire kit.

Conclusion

I hate umbrellas, but that doesn't mean that you should too. As with any piece of gear or method, evaluate it for the value it brings to your workflow and style. Don't let some stuffy softbox panderer like me tell you what you should and shouldn't use to light your scenes. Instead, experiment, and do what works best for you. (But don't expect to see me rocking an umbrella at a shoot anytime soon!)

Ryan Cooper's picture

Ryan is an mildly maniacal portrait/cosplay photographer from glorious Vancouver, Canada.

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53 Comments

I have tried using umbrellas but never worked out for me. At first I thought that I was using it wrong, but then I realize (after a lot of usage, tests, and experimenting) that it's the umbrella itself. As mentioned, it's hard to manage the direction of the light. I can think of it more as "light spreader". It wasn't as satisfying as a softbox/octa.
Though, again as mentioned, it's perfect for people who want to start up with off camera flash that won't break the bank. But pop-up softboxes are relatively cheap nowadays.

Could not agree with you more.
Thou I still lug them in my gear (just in case) I find limited need for use as I prefer to control my light.

Preach!

Though, if you can live with the hot spot and spill, a 60-inch umbrella is still the fastest, easiest, and most portable way to have a very large diffused flash.

Sometimes speed is the answer. I love umbrellas because they pop open and mount in a second.

Exactly. Do not get me wrong, the light from something like a Softlighter is more even and controlled... but takes several times longer to assemble.

Well, you can have pros from both solutions in form of a umbrella softbox - mainly meant for speedlights, and they can't withstand hot modeling lights, but... (Phottix Easy-Up series). The con is they fragility - I broke one two weeks ago, when whole lightstand fell and hit the ground with this softbox' pike :D

I eliminate hot spots by using a reflective (white) umbrella and a bare bulb flash. I put a reflector on the flash and it bounces to the umbrella and to the subject. No hot spots.

There's literally no hotspot in a 5 ft. umbrella. And the Softlighter takes no real time to assemble either.

While I do agree with everything said here, I do recommend trying the Profoto umbrella deeps. You can actually sorta control them cause they're parabolic

What the heck? Umbrellas have never been used to narrowly control light! Their only job is to diffuse and soften the light by spreading it out over a wide area. It's what they do, and it's what they're good at! That's not to say you couldn't narrowly control light with them - many people do by partially closing them, covering them, etc. So why the ranting? It's like saying, "I never use soft boxes, only snoots - because I really like to control the light and a soft box doesn't cut it!" It's just a matter of degree really. I'm glad you retracted a bit. Umbrellas definitely have a place in every photographer's bag of tricks. They're just one of many tools used to control light, and yes, spreading light over a wide area is considered controlling it! Kind of a goofy article. If completely diffused and "uncontrolled" lighting was never appropriate, a lot of outdoor photographers would be screaming that you should never use the sun nestled behind a cloud - EVER - because its light is spread out too much over a wide area and you can't control it. Silly 'eh?

I couldn't agree more. Sure umbrellas isn't for everyone, but they are pretty much the basic thing you'll ever need. Know your light source, look at it and you will see how it will effect the scene. And they are alot cheaper then buying softbox or dedicated tools.

I'm starting to feel that the writers of fstoppers are just crossing off a list of stuff they still haven't talked about on what THEY use and don't use just to fill a monthly quota, no real substance behind them.

not to mention the difference between reflective and shoot-through umbrellas...
One of the advantages of an umbrella in a studio is it bounces the light everywhere, then you can use gobos to control it.
I would not use an umbrella outdoors though.

Fine Dan - don't use them. They aren't "required." I also can't tell you to carry around a light meter, or an extra lens, but I don't know many serious photographers that would say "please don't tell me those things have a place in my bag of tricks...", Like I said, they're just another tool. Each circumstance is different, and there are usually several ways to tackle a particular situation. You should know that, being a photographer for "decades" right Dan? But I wouldn't want to tell you extra tools are a good thing. Sure, there are other tools that can do the same thing as an umbrella, but that's not the point. By the way - my analogy on soft-boxes and snoots totally went over your head - as it appears the rest of my comment did. The point of that comment was to say that a high degree of control is not necessarily always preferable, in that a snoot has a higher degree of control than a soft-box but a snoot is not always what is needed. Understand?

Bottom line - you don't want to use an umbrella - don't. It's your choice. That's what's great about the art and science of photography. But don't disparage all of the photographers out here that use them as if you have the definitive answer and the rest of us are all wet. Although I've never seen your work, I'd venture to say some of the work out here created with the use of umbrellas might even rival your own - if that's possible. ;0)

Umbrellas, when used correctly, are an incredibly useful light modifier in many situations. You are totally wrong when you say umbrellas lack control. Its really easy to control light with an umbrella, all you do is collapse the umbrella to create a long cone shape. If you collapse it enough you can almost make an effect similar to a snoot... One of the best modifiers you can get is a translucent shoot through umbrella with a removable black cover. If you partially remove the cover you can control the spill...takes some practice but is perfectly useable... By simply adjusting the zoom on your flashgun, when shooting through an umbrella you can adjust the size of you light source, moving the flash along the length of the main spar does the same. As far as saying umbrellas are flimsy and cheap, what do you expect...if you are going to buy a cheap umbrella of course they are going to be flimsy!! By an umbrella with fibreglass spars, instead of alloy spars and they will last a lifetime...cost a bit more but they will last much longer... Umbrellas don't waste power!!.. They use no more power than bouncing of a ceiling...obviously, you use the most appropriate tool for the job, if you have the appropriate tool with you. In 30 years of professional shooting, and purchasing dozens of light modifiers over the years I can honestly say that my all time favourite tools are the Westcott 7ft Paras (white and translucent) and the Lastolite Joe McNally 4 in 1 Umbrella... Neither are particularly expensive, they are both well made and they both produce brilliant light.. Obviously umbrellas are not for every situation, but they are extremely useful...

Well said Paul. It's like I've always said - it's not the equipment that makes the photographer. If you know what you're doing you'll get the job done with whatever it is you have - even an umbrella!

You obviously never used deep umbrellas

I completely stopped using umbrellas once I got the wescott rapidbox. I don't think I will ever go back to them- unless I'm doing a picturesque image in the rain!

We use Profoto deep white umbrellas for studio sessions. They're as soft as velvet, without the painfully slow assembly of an octa. Because they're so deep, you can zoom them in to virtually eliminate any spill past the 180° line. Compared to the flimsy Impact-brand umbrellas pictured in your article, they really don't compare.

Right tool for the right job. They both serve a purpose. One not really better than the other.

I'm a bit split with your opinion-sure the small/flimsy white umbrellas are a joke... But a large parabolic/PLM umbrella is a totally different beast and my go to light modifier. It being a large yet harsh source with a hot spot if it isn't centered on the light produces a really cool effect. And add a diffusion sock on it and it's a huge softbox. Very versatile with next to no setup time.

We use umbrellas exclusively - I can understand why they aren't useful for every situation, but for us they are perfect - easy to carry etc. We have used them in rain, snow and heavy winds and we have NEVER broken one - I don't know what you were doing with your umbrellas (?) but they aren't that flimsy...

I can achieve f16 with one speedlight and one umbrella. I can also create Rembrandt, butterfly, split, rim, and loop light. Personally I find Profoto white reflective umbrella works very well with little light spill. The Profoto umbrella is only slightly more harsh than the softbox. Oh and since I can use a faster shutter speed than required for the sunny 16 rule I can over power the sun with just one umbrella.

Yes, I know you all think I'm full of it, but thought I would let you all know that you can with an umbrella. And for the record I do prefer the softbox, and do find the light easier to control, but under time restraints I'm going to rock that umbrella.

But when you're shooting what? I shoot architecture and use soft boxes and reflectors for interiors but umbrellas are excellent tools for exteriors. Many of my shoots are high-rise buildings with fifteen or more floors. With four 86" silver umbrellas along with a NITECORE Tiny Monster, there's no other lights I'd want with me. But they suck in the wind. I definitely agree that in most applications, gridded soft boxes or reflectors work the best.

Agree 100%.

I really like your shots! Could I be really bold and ask for a pulback shot to see your lighting in action?

John

John, here's a smaller set-up at a Hilton shoot last year. I was shooting an exterior lifestyle shot. Two gridded lights and one large umbrella.

Loss of power? Really? More than in softbox?
Cheap? Flimsy?
Wait! My umbrellas are not cheap, and are not flimsy... I know why you don't like umbrellas!
You are compering hammers with pliers. Good quality hammers with cheap pliers. LOL

My umbrellas are cheap :-). The largest one, a 70", cost me less than $40. I have had most of them for over 10 years. Not a problem. In my opinion, there no need to spend a fortune on modifiers. especially not umbrellas.

I've successfully used umbrellas, but you're completely right: flimsy, not controllable, and a waste of light. I've started spending some money on softboxes, but I'm far from done :)

Disagree. My main light is a strobe shot into a silver umbrella. I control it by buying a window lock clamp and using it on the umbrella so I can close or open it as much as I need to. I get more control than a soft box or octabox. While everyone is switch from smaller to large I am just sliding the umbrella open or close and tightening the clamp. Add a large stripbox and a few speedlights and done.

Nice work David! A great example when knowing what you're doing is the key. It has very little to do with the equipment and everything to do with the photographer! Great shots!

Yeah, umbrellas are among my favourite modifiers. I don't listen to the umbrella haters. I LOVE umbrellas. I love softboxes, beauty dishes and other modifiers, too, but umbrellas - especially the deep, truly Parabolic ones - are an obsession for me. I love them. The deep umbrellas are pretty much just as focused (or almost) as a softbox so there's no real worry about light spill. And the typical shallow umbrellas are great for when you need a huge spread of light like when lighting groups. But, having said all that, at the end of the day, like everything else in photography, it all comes down to preference *shrugs*

I use umbrellas mostly because i shoot a lot on location and need to be mobile.

I can get 3 light stands and 4 umbrellas in one small tripod carying bag.

I use some softboxes when I have more setup time or in my home studio.

I also like using my umbrellas to diffuse my makeshift tungsten video lights (worklights mounted to an umbrella mount). Lights that get too hot to put into a softbox.

The umbrella also help remove the repeating shafows made by multiple light sources by turning the two heads into one larger light source.

Excuse me while I take a moment: LMAO WHAT?!This article is utter nonsense.

Parabolics, Deep Umbrellas, Small Bounces, they are all great umbrellas and can shaped if you know what your doing. Soft Silver Parabolics half closed are phenomenal for soft spotlighting if you couldn't bring the Grided Softbox. Also, a few pieces of Black Foam board defeats your control argument.

Well, it all depends what is the purpose... I also would never use umbrella for a portrait or a conceptual shoot. But I use them on regular basis for architectural interior work - exactly because they spill light which is perfect for lighting larger areas.

There is a use for umbrellas. There is a use for softboxes, snoots, hell..even bedsheets. The article is useless, because it's just his opinion... I guess so is my comment then because it's just my opinion Lol... But seriously.. Umbrellas are great. Also versatile when your in the middle of a family portrait session with bride, groom and a dozen cousins, and it starts to pour. Your umbrella may just save the bride's $10, 000 wedding dress which earns you instant hero status... Always carry one in your bag... Or don't..

There are MANY uses for umbrellas.

Umbrellas still are pretty useful when shooting large groups.

Everything Ryan said...and more.

Kinda hard to describe how I feel about this article.
It's like saying "I hate crayons because you can't fineline with them".
(Duh! They never were meant to do that,...)
So what's your complaint? You picked the wrong tool for the job and blamed the tool?

I Love this article! Even though it is wrong. It does shows how anyone with an opinion can write anything they like even if they don't know what they are talking about. Area lighting is the umbrellas forte, but they can be feathered to create edge lighting, block off portions and have a slit light or add a cover and you have a softbox. Deep well umbrellas are highly differential. Then there was the comment about light loss... WHAT? A softbox doesn't lose any light energy?! This site really needs an editor to bring up the quality.

Here's a great blog post on using umbrellas for a high end commercial fashion shoot. Beautiful, controlled light. Umbrellas used with skill and experience are a great tool.

http://profoto.com/blog/the-light-shaper/bring-umbrella-deep-indoors/

if umbrellas would be so bad Rihanna would have said :

Now that it's raining more than ever
Know that we'll still have each other
You can stand under my SOFTBOXE
You can stand under my SOFTBOXE

(Ella ella, eh eh eh)
Under my SOFTBOXE
(Ella ella, eh eh eh)
Under my SOFTBOXE
(Ella ella, eh eh eh)
Under my SOFTBOXE
(Ella ella, eh eh eh eh,eh eh)

another piece of crap article from Fstoppers. The people that will have you believe that you need to shoot beauty with a beauty dish when the majority of successful beauty photographers shoot with an lowly umbrella.

Lol. it's like saying I don't like a formula one car because I can't load a bag into a trunk. formula one cars are used for racing, trucks are used for transport. you want to race or you want to transport? it's stupid to use a spot to fill a scene with even light, thats where you use an umbrella :)

Brolly's are the best accessory for fill light because they spread light everywhere and fill lots of shadows. And if positioned behind you during a portrait session they give perfect round catch light in the sitters pupil which can be removed with spot healing brush in seconds.

I'm coming in late, but, with all due respect to its author, I find that article particularly "trumpian" in its complete factual fallacy, and, as it remains so well referenced, I feel obliged to debunk some of its (factually wrong) assertions.

"Umbrellas lack control". Attached is a comparison between a Broncolor 75cm deep octa and two diffusion layers, a deep white umbrella, a (shallow !) Cactus silver 105cm umbrella (which is a poor copy of Paul Buff's excellent extreme silver PLM), and a 20° grid, on a B2 head (meaning that in the shot's circumstances, a spill kill reflector wasn't necessary to eliminate bare flash tube spill from the sides - BTW, people should shut up about umbrellas and control if they don't know what a spill kill reflector is and its uses). Yes, what you are seeing is true : that silver umbrella illuminates an area that is similar to a 20° grid. How's that for lack of control ?

"Umbrellas are inefficient". All settings were kept constant, only flash power output was adjusted in that comparison, so that the illumination on the wall facing the modifier was constant (checked via tethering in C1). Here are the results : Broncolor deep octa (remember, with two diffusion layers) : 9.0 (out of 10); deep white umbrella : 7.7; Cactus silver umbrella : 5 (yes, 5 !); 20° grid : 7.8. I think that's quite explicit.

There are plenty of reasons to prefer softboxes over umbrellas, but control and efficiency ? Nah. Absolutely not.

You are right, it is quite Trumpian in the sense that he says something simple but doesn't cover every single possible outlier situation so the liberal media jumps down his throat. ;)

I will grant you, that, yes, a deep octa does quite effectively emulate a softbox in many ways. Which is largely because it is designed to simulate a softbox. So much so that many manufacturers have started building umbrella structured softboxes and just calling them softboxes because that is effectively what they are. When you take an umbrella structure and extend it so that it has a sidewalls then cover the front with a diffusion fabric you are making a softbox out of an umbrella. So yes, in that case you have an umbrella that behaves like a softbox, and it isn't a case I covered above, which is a fair criticism.

But digressing back to the point of the article which is meant to compare a softbox to a standard umbrella, used as an umbrella is designed to be used, the softbox enjoy superior spill control which leads to better brightness even with diffusion material sucking power from the light.

As an example, I went and dug an old umbrella out of my storage unit that hasn't been used in a decade and compared it to a similar sized softbox at the same distance with the same exposure settings. The first thing you will notice is that the standard umbrella does spill much more illuminating more of the ceiling and pushing more light into the kitchen. The far cabinet is a grey value of 9% with the sofftbox vs 15% with an umbrella. Also notice how much bright the lamp is which is actually more important as it simulates another object that may actually be in frame.

The entire wall to the left is illuminated with the umbrella as well but I didn't have a wide enough lens to show it all. And because of that the less focused light is also duller. The brightest point of the softbox has a grey value of 62% while the umbrella is 57%. Simple physics, if the light is more spread, it is less focused.

"But digressing back to the point of the article which is meant to compare a softbox to a standard umbrella, used as an umbrella is designed to be used, the softbox enjoy superior spill control which leads to better brightness even with diffusion material sucking power from the light."

Sorry Ryan, but did you look at the example in my photo ? The Cactus is a $50 silver shallow umbrella, "used as an umbrella". There's nothing fancy going on there. No magic. It isn't a soft box, and it isn't trying to be.

Of course, silver umbrellas come in various shapes and designs. Some of them are just designed to give you a tight, "controlled" beam of light. That's it. It's been since 2009 that Paul Buff started to sell umbrellas of that kind, so it isn't like it's anything new.

I came in a little hot in that thread, I admit. But I'm just so tired of seeing the same fact-less things said about umbrellas over and over again (same applies for the over-use of the "parabolic" moniker to the point that its descriptive ability has been annihilated).

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