strobists, help me!

Softbox or umbrella (shoot-through or reflector)?

nice one sir, I wanted to ask that question too... uhm and why softbox? or why umbrella? ^__^

lain-lain mag effect. umbrella, mas soft ang gradation from shadow to highlight, mas abrupt kung softbox. so depends on your needs. one ain't necessarily better than the other. mas dali pud i-mount ang umbrella, dugay ug kuti ang softbox.

it used to be that umbrellas were usually used as reflectors; only a few used shoothroughs. but then the strobist guy pushed for shootthrough for his purposes. reason? you can't bring a reflector umbrella too close to the subject coz you have to deal with the stand. thus you need a more powerful light. a shootthrough, otoh, you can place even just a few inches away. since strobists use small battery-powered flashguns as opposed to AC-powered powerful studio lights, it's thus more practical to use shootthroughs.

my dos sentimos worth.

and if i may, i ain't no expert on artificial light use; preferring natural light in most of my shoots. maybe coz of my photojourn background, where you can't have the time to tell the subject to hold his pose for you, where directing your subject is usually a no-no, an unethical practice, which we call "drawing."

bobby t.

Other term for it is "LIGHT MODIFIERS"..better if you can have both Gran.. They have different effects according to your lighting needs or in a given situation..It is tedious to set up if your having a field photoshoot but it has a great impact in your image...

@ Sir Bob...will I guess Photojourn is really diffrent from fashion photography where in you have to ask your model to pose..hehehe...In photojourn, you can not ask your subject to pose for you or smile (the least he can do) when he is holding an armalite and pointing it to somebody who is about to die by firing squad..and diffenitely we can not set up strobes in that situation not even a reflector...hehehehe...

That's why it is called "strobist" because of the use of artificial lights/flash...you can not be a strobist if you dont have those gears..

sample links that you might want to consider (my personal choices/favorites)

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Kn54q6xjqA (DUSTIN DIAZ photography video documentary how he set up his shoot)

- http://photography.dustindiaz.com/ (DUSTIN DIAZ flicker account...365 days project..he used sofbox and umbrella in this project)

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fCceeu1s6Q&feature=related

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqSuS_Gaiik&feature=related (this one naman umbrella lang gamit nya)

Umbrella can also function as both...reflective umbrella (the one with the black cover) and at the same time as a soft box(effect) the shoot through umbrella..you just have to reverse the umbrella(shoot through) then you can have the soft box effect..

welcome..another strobist in the making..hehehe