Decisions about lighting can drastically alter the resulting photograph.
Professional photographers use specialized lighting to create high-quality indoor portraits and still-life images. Umbrellas and softboxes each reflect and modify light differently, and skilled photographers can use either to create a variety of striking images.
Umbrella
Umbrellas offer photographers an inexpensive, portable indoor lighting solution ideal for small spaces. Umbrellas illuminate a large area indiscriminately, making them a common accessory in the fashion photography studio. Photographers can easily blow out the highlights and wash out portions of the photo by using too much light with an umbrella. Umbrellas may also result in noticeable catch-lights, or chunky shapes in reflective surfaces such as the eyes of a model. If you need your light to spill into the background and don't mind the unevenness that can occur, Brooklyn-based portrait photographer Steve Prue suggests using an umbrella.
Softbox
The softbox offers more control and even dispersal of light than umbrellas through a variety of shapes and masking options. Softboxes allow photographers to position the light source very close to a subject, creating a soft yet strong light on the subject that leaves the background a dark shadow. These lighting accessories also cost more, on average, than umbrellas.
Combination
Most professional photographers use both umbrella and softboxes, often in combination during the same shoot. Photographers can create a variety of distinct lighting styles through innovative use of lighting elements that combine softboxes and umbrellas.
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