Hey Everyone! Hope you've had a great week. Here goes a topic I haven't talked about in a long time. Having a home studio whether it's Permanent (Spare bedroom) or Temporary is easy and inexpensive to get started in. But like everything you can spend a lot money if you want too but you don't have to and you can get excellent results with inexpensive gear. Having a home studio is great for table top photography and for family portraits. Having a system that will set up quickly and not having too much money invested can be rewarding. In this blog we are going to talk about the first off camera modifiers you should get that work great for all situations and are by far the least expensive you can get. The umbrella. There are basically three types of umbrellas you can purchase all can be had for say 30 bucks or less. Of course you can pay more but don't need to. The three types are Shoot Through, Reflective and Reflective with a sock. These umbrellas come in different flavors and colors. White being the most common and giving the softest light there are silver and gold ones as well that will give you specular highlights .

Shoot Through: This umbrella is probably the least expensive but to me a very versatile umbrella. Like the name implies this umbrella is between your light and the subject thus you shoot the light through the umbrella. I have used this umbrella a lot and it is great for creating soft portraits and one of its traits as with all umbrellas is that it throughs light all over. So it isn't really directional. But if you have a one light set up it is great because it will light your subject and your back ground very evenly.  This is probably my favorite umbrella and is colored white for softer tones.

Reflective: Reflective umbrellas are more directional. They do not bounce around the light as much as the shoot through although all umbrellas do spread the light a lot . The light source is placed between your subject and the umbrella and pointed away from your subject and directed into the umbrella where the light reflects off of a Silver or Gold or White surface and goes onto the subject. Since these umbrellas have a sharp edge they can direct more light on the subject and not as much the background. These umbrellas are great for spreading light on a large crowd as the shoot through is and can produce even light. With silver and gold reflective surfaces attached they can produce more specular highlights than a white surface.

Reflective with a Sock: The third kind is the most expensive just because it has more parts. It's a reflective umbrella with a sock over the opening making it almost a soft box. Being like a soft box it is capable of producing very soft light and is as directional as the reflective. It is a great all around umbrella and gives you the best of both worlds of a shoot through and a reflective umbrella. 

In my opinion the umbrella should be your first light modifier of your at home studio. It is cheap , versatile and gives great results. As your skills improve then you can go to other types of modifiers like soft boxes, snoots, beauty dishes. Being able to control the light you can make great photo's and the simple umbrella is a great way to start. Well that's enough for this week until next time Get out and Shoot!

Hey if you want to check out my photography go to my instagram account Max Stansell Photography there are over 2000 posts there. Here is the link

 Max Stansell Photography Instagram Link