Softbox or umbrella?

cambsno

cambsno

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What do people find is best for portraits? Umbrella (shoot thru or reflective) or softbox and why?

A quick search on google indicates that umbrellas are only good in 2 ways, size and assembly time (includes the fact that umbrella is 1 item and you dont need rings etc...). Correct?
 
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Yes and no. Umbrellas are much more indiscriminate and put light everywhere. Sometimes this is a good thing as you can use one to bounce some fill light into the room from the back. If you need to control light and fall off you need a closed back source like a softie. Shoot throughs push light out so there is more fall off, but you can get them in CLOSE. Reflective cannot be placed as close, but create a nice wrap around effect as the light is channeled towards the subject. You can also collapse a reflective to create a kinda softish snoot.
 
Like any light modifier it depends on the application. Just saying portraits is too wide a canvas. It depends on the subject and at what distance you can light them, the direction you want the light to take and the distance you have between subject and background if you don't want any light on the background.

Umbrellas are easier to work with for sure but the basically provide you with a wash of light, it goes everywhere! Softboxes are far more controllable and are usually a pest to put up.

There is a neat solution though called an umbrella box, a softbox that folds like an umbrella but lights like a softbox.
 
All light modifiers have advantages, that's why they exist.
And all have disadvantages, which is why alternatives exist.
This article in the Lencarta Learning Centre shows the advantages and disadvantages of each
 
Another alternative is the Westcott Apollo, which is a softbox that goes up like an umbrella, but at a price...........
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Another alternative is the Westcott Apollo, which is a softbox that goes up like an umbrella, but at a price...........
Click to expand...

and it has limitations, like you cannot tilt the box down without making a custom bracket, you cannot adjust power to the strobe easily (unless strobe power can be controlled remotely) because it sits inside the box, and last it eats up quite a lot of power.

Had Apollo for about 6 months and sold it, using it with speedlite and adjusting the power was nightmare (open up the front each time you want to adjust settings)
 
There are umbrellas, and shoot-through umbrellas. Huge difference.

Shoot-throughs spill light everywhere, 50% bounced straight out of the back and the other 50% across close to 180 degrees from the front. But the light is good and soft and in an average rooom you get a lot of automatic fill-in (whether you want it or not). For instant set-up and go, with unpredicatble subjects like children and so on, in the right situation they give a nice result and lots of flexibility. They're kind of the studio equivalent of a Stofen diffuser cap - really easy and work well - most of the time.

If you want control, you get quite a lot of that from a white or silver brolly, or at least as much as with an average softbox, and no more spill. Slide the head up the shaft a bit.

The advantage with a softbox is the diffuser, preferably a double diffuser, which spreads the light evenly and right to the edges for max softening. You can use them right up close with lovely clean catchlights, round or square :thumbs:

For a lot of regular portrait work, a white brolly is cheap, light, very quick/easy, and will give results indistinguishable from a softbox costing ten times as much. But if you can stretch to a good softbox/octabox, one with a quick up/down mechanism, you'll never regret it.
 
Good topic :) For outdoor groups at a wedding i tend to use a shoot though. The light spreads out nicely and tends not to need too much power. i prefer the control of a softbox though and use the large lastolite ezybox for couples.

Is it possible to get an octobox for speedlites?
 
Probably best to get 1 brolly and 1 box then to get the best if both worlds!
 
cambsno said:
Probably best to get 1 brolly and 1 box then to get the best if both worlds!
Click to expand...

Well yes :thumbs: Brollies are so cheap.

If money is tight, as it usually is, then go for brollies for starters and then treat yourself to a really nice softbox in due course. The Lencarta 120cm Octa is a really nice big-but-not-too-enormous quick-folding softbox, and relatively affordable. Cheap non-folding softboxes are an absolute pain to put up and down.
 
I use the supplied diffuser with my SB-900's
Does the same job and fits into the soft case also supplied. Less space too.
 
AdamPearcey said:
I use the supplied diffuser with my SB-900's
Does the same job and fits into the soft case also supplied. Less space too.
Click to expand...

:nono: The supplied diffuser with a SB-900's is useful when you can't use a softbox or an umbrella (in a nightclub...) but if you compare results its clear that with a softbox or an umbrella results are much better. :p

SB-900 + supplied diffuser -------------------------------vs---------------------------- the same equipment + 24" Softbox
(The same day, the same equipment. no PP in both cases - just a conversion from NEF's)
5047645633_d9cfcf2a25_b.jpg
5047645629_c5e1a327c9_b.jpg
 
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The bigger the light source the better generally speaking. Adam - how much bigger does your light source become when you stick a stofen on it?



not very
 
Stinger - like that shot on the right :thumbs: Might have been even better if you'd moved the armchair ;)
 
Buy an umbrella that reflects and shoots through via removal of a cover. Spend time with it, a collapsed reflective umbrella gives a softbox style effect, and shoot through will give a very soft light source. Softbox (esp28") is only suitable for 2 people max, 3 at a push, where as a decent umbrella will cost less and is generally more flexible as a modifier.
 
ryanyboy said:
The bigger the light source the better generally speaking. Adam - how much bigger does your light source become when you stick a stofen on it?



not very
Click to expand...

But that's not how a Stofen works. If there's a ceiling for it to work off, the light source becomes very big indeed.

On the other hand, I'm not sure this thread needs to veer off topic just because of post #11 :eek:
 
Anyone used a background reflector? Thinking of getting one (Lencarta) for one light to sort the background and then can swap between brolly and box on the other light.
 
kokakaste2 said:
and it has limitations, like you cannot tilt the box down without making a custom bracket, you cannot adjust power to the strobe easily (unless strobe power can be controlled remotely) because it sits inside the box, and last it eats up quite a lot of power.

Had Apollo for about 6 months and sold it, using it with speedlite and adjusting the power was nightmare (open up the front each time you want to adjust settings)
Click to expand...

I always felt the biggest issue was the inability to quickly adjust the power, but as (surprisingly) it works fine with Nikon's CLS system I use that when employing the Apollo. I've never had any need to tilt it past what it will do when mounted on a Manfrotto 026, so a custom bracket hasn't been required, although I've seen something rigged up using two 026s to provide more tilt

AdamPearcey said:
I use the supplied diffuser with my SB-900's
Does the same job and fits into the soft case also supplied. Less space too.
Click to expand...

JasonRS said:
Excuse me a moment while I step outside and cry.....

:bang:
Click to expand...

:lol:
 
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