n the next image I fired my strobe (key light) into an umbrella. I photographed it during my trip to Las Vegas in 2012. This light modifier choice was made simply because I could not fit my Beauty dish into my suitcase.
The quality of this light is slightly different from both softbox and Beauty dish - it is a little harder than Beauty dish in my case, but you can soften the light if you shoot through an umbrella.
An umbrella may not look as professional as the other two when you mount it on your light at a client shoot, but it is still a great light modifier for portraits and close-up beauty, which you can easily travel with.