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Types of Light Modifiers

Light modifiers are a powerful way to shape or control light. And with the right approach, you can use modifiers to achieve beautifully lit, gorgeous portraits.

As we all know, correct lighting crucial to a professional looking photograph. It’s also in the literal meaning of the term photography – “drawing with light”. So, to transform light into art, it’s important to learn about the tools. At a basic level, we can use the sun, a continuous source, or a flash. If we’re outside, then natural lighting might not be enough for a specific look. If we’re inside, we probably won’t opt to use a bare bulb because people don’t often appreciate a harsh construction zone type mood. This is where light modifiers come in.

Are light modifiers really necessary?

Technically, you can do portrait photography without modifiers. You can shoot with a subject and an unmodified flash. However, a naked flash produces hard light and harsh shadows, which I think look really unflattering. Nobody is ever going to tell you, “Wow, I love the way your hard lighting has captured and enhanced every single pore, line, and blemish on my skin. I actually look ten years older. Thanks!”

Hence, it’s often a good idea to start with soft, carefully modified lighting. There are, of course, many really cool uses for hard lighting, and some photographers can make it look brilliant.

Every kind of light modifier will have a top-of-the-line version and a really cheap version. The main difference is that the cheaper versions won’t be as durable. This becomes important when you’re using them every single day.

So once you become an experienced studio photographer, it makes sense to invest in high-quality modifiers. When you’re learning to use modifiers, I recommend choosing cheap versions. They’ll perform just fine, and you’ll save yourself a lot of money.

How to choose the perfect modifier for a photoshoot?

Different modifiers affect the light in different ways. Some modifiers broaden the beam to soften the light. Other modifiers narrow the beam to harden the light. So when selecting a modifier, ask yourself:

"What kind of lighting am I trying to create?"

If you’re after the soft, diffused effect you’d get from an overcast sky, you might want to consider one of these modifiers.

Note that, if you’re shooting outside or near windows, your choice of modifier should depend on the ambient light. Harsh sunlight should be combined with hard modifiers, and cloudy light should be combined with soft modifiers. Make sense? When picking a modifier, it’s also important to consider the mood you’re after. Soft light gives ethereal, beautiful portraits, whereas hard light tends to be more intense, in-your-face, and dramatic.

Different Light Modifiers

The Umbrella

An umbrella creates a quality of light that is soft, abundant, and very forgiving.

Umbrellas are a great choice if you want to light a large area with flat, even lighting. Because umbrellas are easy to use and relatively cheap, they are a good beginner’s light modifier.

On the other hand, umbrellas tend to over-light scenes, spreading lots of light around.

Lots of light. All over the place. Like a hose with its spray nozzle set to “everywhere.”

So think of umbrellas as an only-use-in-case-of-emergency style of lighting. If you overuse them, things tend to get a bit ugly.

Types of umbrella light shapers

There are a few types of umbrellas you should consider:

Silver/gold reflective umbrella: These babies throw light everywhere. They are great for lighting large groups of people. The silver umbrella will give you a slightly cooler light while the gold umbrella creates warmer light. Both produce a slightly harder result than the white reflective umbrella.
White reflective umbrella: This umbrella creates soft light with slightly less spread and contrast than the silver and gold reflective umbrellas. Because the style of light allows people to move around a lot while staying in a consistently even source of light, white umbrellas are great to use when you are shooting groups and couples under pressure, such as for an event.
White shoot-through umbrella: These are perfect as your first light modifier, as they diffuse and spread light quite evenly.

A final note on umbrellas

Umbrellas are great for indoor lighting. But they’re tricky – and even downright dangerous – to use outside. So if you must use them outdoors, then please make sure you have somebody holding them or sandbags to keep them in place.

The scrim

After you’ve ditched your umbrella training wheels, the next step is to work with a scrim panel. A scrim is a square or rectangular frame with a fabric diffusion material stretched across. Scrims are a really cool way to create large areas of soft, diffused light as if you’re shooting next to a large window or have clouds over the sun. And they’re great for diffusing flash, continuous light, and sunshine.

Remember: The larger the light source, the softer the light.

In fact, of all the light modifiers, a scrim is probably the most versatile and a must have in your kit.

The softbox

Softboxes are low-cost and versatile modifiers that create a beautiful, soft, easily controllable light source.

If I could only pick one light modifier to take to a deserted island, it would have to be the softbox. Small, medium, or large, this little puppy is my go-to light source for 80% of my shoots.

Why? The quality of light is soft, flattering, and malleable. Changing the angle and proximity of the softbox to the sitter easily changes the hardness of the light and the direction of the shadow.

It’s one of the light modifiers that most accurately recreates the effect of soft daylight coming through a window. This light modifier is that it’s subtle. Highlights gently merge into shadows.

This image of a racecar driver, Glauco Junior Solleri, was taken using a speedlight and a small Lumiquest softbox.

Softbox options

There are different kinds of softboxes depending on where and what you're shooting.

If I’m doing a studio shoot, I love using a softbox with a white reflective interior. The white interior creates a softer look, and this particular softbox has an extra layer of diffusion on the inside, adding even more softness to the light.

Some photographers remove the interior panel because they like the added contrast of harder light, but I prefer less contrast. You can also increase the spread and contrast of your light by using silver or gold interior panels.

The beauty dish

The beauty dish differs from other light modifiers because it gives you a distinctive circular, soft-contrast light, which is perfect for lighting faces and defining bone structures such as cheekbones and chin lines.

Beauty dishes also create a circular catchlight in your model’s eyes, which looks quite natural. (You can see why these modifiers are popular with fashion/beauty and celebrity photographers.)

The downside of beauty dishes is that the falloff from light to dark is very rapid, so you’ll often get shadows under your model’s chin and nose. You can compensate for the shadows by adding a fill board, like a white reflector, to reflect light up into your subject’s face.

Why should you use a beauty dish?

A beauty dish gives you a certain look. It will light a small area and flatten out your model’s features.

Beauty dishes make people look great, but you need to light your model in a very specific way – from above – to really pull it off.

The gridspot

The gridspot is a bit of kit you can use in conjunction with a speedlight, monolight, or battery-operated flash. The width of the grid and the size of the holes will affect the width of the light beam hitting your subject.

A gridspot creates hard, focused light. I love to use gridspots in the same way I use beauty lights.

Why should you use a gridspot?

I like using gridspots because they create a similar light to beauty dishes. The light is a bit harder, but gridspots are perfect for single portraits; you can pop light onto someone’s face and shoulders without impacting the background mood.

Gridspots are also perfect for outdoor use as they won’t get blown about.

Fresnel light

A Fresnel is a light modifier that can be focused. They were first used in lighthouses, then the technology was developed in continuous lighting for movies and television.

The Fresnel light modifier gives a soft, crisp, and very distinct look to portraits. Fresnel lighting is soft and crisp, reminiscent of 1940s portrait lighting. It’s a style that has become really popular lately, particularly with fashion and editorial photographers.

The downside of this type of lighting is that it’s pretty expensive.

Octabox

An octabox is what you’d get if a softbox and an umbrella merged into one.

An octabox serves up soft light just like a softbox. But it spreads its light around more, just like an umbrella.

Octaboxes are fantastic for lighting large groups evenly. Plus, they give round catchlights.

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