Which is better, a reflector or an umbrella?

As we all know, no matter what shooting situation, if natural light can be used, there is no need for artificial light. If you want to play artificial light, you must pursue soft light. But facing the reflector or the reflective umbrella, which effect is better? Today, I will analyze and compare the reflector and the reflective umbrella for your reference only.

Which is better, a reflector or an umbrella? 1 PS! Why do you need lighting?

For most photographers, every photography action is basically done by themselves. There is a famous saying in photography that "don't delay what you can do in the early stage", which means that you can fill the light when shooting, which will greatly improve the original quality of the whole photo. So if you want to take a photo of your sister's paper, you need to have super late work and be prepared to spend a lot of time retouching it without her makeup and lighting. Our Pacific Truth column (Truth Man: Which is more convenient, taking photos or retouching? ) I also tested that retouching a single photo may not be more troublesome than doing enough preliminary work, but you take more than one photo at a time. Ten photos are enough. On the contrary, why not do all these efforts in the early stage?

Shooting directly without using lighting equipment: When shooting outdoors at the expense of the background, especially when the weather is clear and there are blue sky and white clouds, outdoor shooting will face a large light ratio. For example, chestnuts, the face above is exposed correctly but the background is directly sacrificed. In a single shot, to keep the background, the subject of the photo should be bright enough. We can only balance the two by measuring the background, using the flash and illuminating the subject.

In addition, we need to popularize scientific knowledge here and improve our knowledge level. No matter what kind of fill light equipment, under the premise of normal exposure setting, the larger the area, the larger the range and the closer to the subject, the better the soft light effect will be. So this explains why we don't use small soft covers, soap boxes and reflective shovels to shoot portraits-because their effects are not obvious at a distance of more than one meter, that is, they are the same as those without compensation. Reflective umbrella and reflector are different. Among all soft light auxiliary equipment, their comprehensive performance is the most outstanding when used alone.

Soft light auxiliary equipment PK: I hate not having many hands!

This time, we compare the reflective umbrella with the reflective plate, which is based on the fact that a single person can achieve good lighting effect with only one pair of hands. There are too many auxiliary lighting devices, and many friends who just started playing with light don't know where to start. Although entry-level lighting equipment is not expensive, if they continue to place orders after using it, they will feel like a big pit again and again. Don't think that you can know whether a thing is good or not from the product introduction. Businessmen are always the people who will fool you the most.

The credibility of the product introduction on the shop page is very low, so when shooting, only one person, one camera and one auxiliary device have formed a simple auxiliary lighting mode. According to the different lighting conditions at the scene, light in the direction you think you need to fill the light. Let me introduce two PK objects selected this time: reflector and reflector umbrella.

Reflective (soft light) umbrella:

Under the condition of not using a lamp holder, the reflective umbrella is as high as an umbrella and has high handfeel and usability. It is also convenient to carry after storage. However, when the soft umbrella is used, the disadvantage is that the shadow of the umbrella rib with poor quality will affect the shooting picture. Moreover, it is obviously affected by the weather after the umbrella is unfolded, so it is very difficult to use it in windy conditions (even if there is a lamp holder).

Soft light index: ★★★★★☆.

Portable index: ★★★★☆☆

Wind resistance: ☆☆☆☆

Soft umbrella and reflective umbrella

However, it should be noted that reflective umbrellas and soft umbrellas are used in different ways. The main rib of the reflective umbrella faces the model, and the soft umbrella faces away from the model. When shooting outside, we can take as few props as possible, so if we don't use a tripod or a lamp stand, we can only use our own hands to fill the light.

Method for reflecting scattered light of umbrella

Method of dispersing light with soft umbrella

The effect of filling light with soft umbrella is excellent.

Reflective (soft light) board: foldable and hand-held, with high portability index. If it is used with a rotatable top hot shoe lamp holder, a single person can also fill the light from the front or side. However, it is also restrictive. For example, if you want to take a telephoto portrait, the placement of the reflector becomes a huge problem. Only suitable for close-up portrait shooting.

Soft light index: ★★★☆☆☆

Portable index: ★★★★★☆.

Wind resistance: ★★★★★☆.

It is better to fill the light with reflector.

It can be seen from the actual use of light compensation equipment when shooting outdoors on cloudy days that when shooting without lights, the latitude of the camera is far less than that of the human eye, so it can't take into account the model and background, so the overall appearance is very dry. The background can be exposed correctly after using the fill light equipment, which is very useful for shooting blue sky, white clouds and sunset! From the PK experiment, we can see that the light directly hit by the flash lamp on the reflector has a very prominent diffuse reflection effect on the face of the character. Soft umbrellas have better control over the angle of light.

Therefore, the author thinks that although the reflector has good light-filling ability, it seems to be more suitable for women's models. For men, a reflective umbrella or a soft umbrella can control the opening of the umbrella and determine the direction of light gathering. In fact, it is more conducive to male models to show their strong side.

Reflective plate and reflective umbrella are both small light compensation devices. Hold it in your hand. No problem. The reflector series includes gold, silver, white and soft light. And the reflective umbrella series is the same. However, the difference between the two is that the reflector can be transformed into a second shape by switching different covers, while the reflective umbrella should be used according to the actual situation, and you must take four umbrellas when you go out. At this time, the editor can't help but think of a game character. . . . . .

Soft box: It is huge and heavy, and the applicability index of single outdoor shooting is extremely low (unless you have a beautiful outdoor shooting scene downstairs). It can choose different shapes of covers, quadrangles, hexagons and octagons, and even a ring flash dedicated to a country's small movies. But it must be said that the soft light box is one of the best soft light auxiliary equipment pursued by all photographers, and its soft light effect can be said to be stable in the first place. Therefore, the editor also paid tribute to this best quality fill light equipment and scored it.

Soft light index: ★★★★★★★

Portable index: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆.

Wind resistance: ★★★★★☆☆

Soft light box provides unparalleled soft light effect.

With a soft box, it is basically equivalent to the effect of a shed. If there is really a free assistant to help, choosing a soft box is the smartest thing to do. However, it should be noted that if you buy a top-mounted hot shoe flash, the maximum flash power of the flash will drop by more than one step due to the high-speed synchronization function of the hot shoe flash during daytime shooting. In order to get enough fill light, you can use the lamp holder to form multiple lamps to enhance the output. But in that case, why not simply choose high-power outdoor lights? It's also fun to shoot with lights outside. Really enthusiastic friends may wish to study it in depth.

The role of camera mirror

It is often used to improve the light, make the plain picture fuller and highlight the subject better.

High reflectivity, high light intensity and moderate light quality, suitable for photography of various subjects.

Extended data:

Types and specific functions of reflectors

1, white reflector: The light reflected by the white reflector is not very strong, so its effect is soft and natural.

2. Silver reflector: Because the silver reflector is bright and smooth as a mirror, it can emit brighter light. In the case of poor light, the white reflector does not have such a strong effect.

3. Golden reflector: Use a golden reflector to fill the light in the sun. Like a silver reflector, it reflects light like a mirror, but in contrast to a cold-tuned silver reflector, it produces light with a warmer hue. Silver reflector can be used as auxiliary light and gold reflector as main light.