Shoot-thru Umbrella

Question> I am trying to decide if I should buy a shoot-thru umbrella or what else is available.

Shoot-thru umbrellas are pretty good for providing soft diffused light. However, they tend to throw light all over the place.

For better lighting control, most photographers would use a softbox instead. But softboxes are much more expensive than umbrellas.

As a great alternative, I love my 60″ Photek Softlighter II.

http://www.adorama.com/PTSL60.html

It is basically an umbrella with a diffusion panel on it that tightly fits around the studio strobe. It is very similar to a softbox/octabox for light control, and it is quick to deploy and inexpensive like an umbrella.

I can also remove the diffuser and use it as a regular bounce umbrella, or I can remove the black backing to use it as a shoot thru umbrella.

Another handy feature that it has is that I can remove half of the umbrella shaft. This way I can place the whole setup even closer to my subject for super soft lighting. This also comes in handy when working in tight places.

It is well built and I get fantastic results from it.