Umbrellas are so underrated. Especially shoot throughs/translucent. I almost always have a big translucent tucked away in the car because one of those with a bagged C-stand and you have a fairly portable scrim for outdoor shots in a pinch when you just can't make it happen in better light/time of day

Umbrellas, especially if you're using the right ones and taking advantage of all the configurations. If you use say a Westcott 42" white umbrella with a removable black cover, plus a removable diffuser, you have all three major modifiers in one package. Shoot-through with a naked umbrella, shoot-in with the black cover on, and softbox with the black cover and diffuser. The only thing you can't really do is grid them. But you get all that flexible light control in a lightweight, portable package that's much easier to set up. All for a fraction of the price.

I rarely use a bare umbrella. When I do, it's a Paul C. Buff super-silver parabolic umbrella. It's no longer produced, but it was a unique affordable umbrella that was a true parabolic that casts a very directional, tight, but huge beam.

Downside of umbrella, you can't use honeycomb grid & secondary diffuser cloth.

Over the last few years I have been showing participants and for my own pictures using umbrellas for fashion, portraits, and nudes. Set up time, weight, ease of use are all unbeatable compared to Octas. Swapping between mixed types or brands too is so easy as comnpared to swapping octas, mounts etc.

I have about 10 Soft boxes that are all glow products and I have two umbrellas one is a godox, where the strobe light goes inside of the big umbrella and I'm not a big fan of that. I do 95% of my portraits outside so I like something that I can set up quick and take back down. So out of those 10 Soft boxes I only use three of them because I purchased the new glow Parasnap soft boxes and it makes my life so much easier and I think it's easier to just attach a softbox to the front of the strobe and be done with it. I have a couple soft boxes that range from 42 in to 48 inches round and every time I try to use them it's always windy out and it's like a big parachute trying to take off even though I got three sandbags on them LOL. But if I did more indoor portraits in a studio I would definitely try out those big 60 inch 72 inch umbrellas.

Softboxes provide more control and less spill, as well as allowing double layers of diffusion as well as a grid that controls spill further. Umbrellas are cheaper, much lighter and more compact to carry, but are harder to control unless you use flags. Depends on the look you are going for, umbrellas can be great for fill or for a more soft/high key look.

Use the right tool for the right job. There are times when an umbrella is a far better choice than a softbox depending on the results you want. For location work or events, umbrellas win hands down. My go to is a 41in beaded deep silver for the key and a 60in white reflective for the fill.

Umbrellas would be perfect if you could remove half the stick once umbrella is open. I know one brand has this but they all should be like this. I like to cozy the light up to my subject and that stick keeps getting in the way.

B&H having a special on 71" impact.. so I got two of them for $120... for studio use only. Looking for them to last a long time. UMBRELLAS ARE AWESOME ends debate🤷🏾‍♂️

(Rob here) F umbrellas.

You can hunt me on the internet.. I use Umbrellas for all of my beauty shoots

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