5-in-1 reflectors give you better control over the lighting and take your outdoor photography game to the next level. Here's why you should use one.

If you've ever seen a photographer shooting a model on the street, you've likely noticed one piece of gear much more conspicuous than the rest. 5-in-1 reflectors are the big, round, usually nylon or rayon panel. It folds into itself when not in use, bouncing back to its full dimensions when needed. They look fun, but are they worth it?

The best 5-in-1 reflectors bring it all to the table—diffusion, indirect light, and even blue/green screen if you buy one that includes either. Who would have ever thought that this floppy thing would be such a lifesaver out in the field?

The 5-in-1 flex fill's claim to fame is that it can truly do it all—if you have forty seconds and a person to hold it up, the world becomes your personal photo studio.

When you peel away the light blocker, the green screen, and the foiled reflectors, most flexible reflectors include a white silk diffusion stretched over its round, wire base. This diffusion material may very well be your most-used out of the five, aside from perhaps the reflector itself.

Heavy white silk diffusion is thick enough to muffle direct sunlight or studio light, all without extinguishing it entirely by the time it makes it to your model's face. Few sources will be too powerful for the diffusive material to cut back—we challenge you to try finding one.

Softboxes are incredible because they produce perfect angel light and require very little time and labor. If you have a source to play with, you can mimic this effect by building a DIY softbox using the components of your 5-in-1 reflector.

There are several ways to do this—you could use a big cardboard box and some work clips, or even jury-rig a PVC pipe frame if it's a resource you plan on using again to shoot in the future.

The secret boils down to two key objectives: to contain the light, prevent light spill, and to add distance between the light source and the diffusive material, as opposed to holding the silk right in front of the fixture. A softbox essentially automates both of these luxuries. Your 5-in-1 reflector might just receive a new lease on life through this DIY photography project.

If you're shooting with nothing but a 5-in-1 reflector, chances are, there's already some source of light pumping into the scene—the sun, or even things like stage lights or streetlights.

Using only a single source of light is fine, but you may find that you lose certain parts of the subject in the darkness, depending on how you mold yourself and your model around the light source. Choosing to use the light as a kicker might mean their face is indiscernible; cast it on the face directly, and it might be overly harsh, or they might sink into the darkness behind them.

With either a gold foil or silver foil reflector, you're able to break up the light and spread the love, so to speak. You can easily transform a direct backlight into a soft, flattering fill light that can stand in as a true key light if you're able to finagle yourself accordingly.

The same principle also applies to less extreme examples, such as when shooting indoors near a big window. Balance is everything in photography, and a 5-in-1 reflector is perfect for when you need to fill in the gaps.

The professional photographer's best-kept secret is negative fill. Instead of adding light to one side of the face or one area of the scene, you take light away elsewhere, which achieves essentially the same effect: you draw the eye to the brighter part of the frame, even though, in reality, the brighter part hasn't actually changed at all.

This is one handy trick when you're short on firepower or need some way of accentuating a subtle and desirable source without throwing the entire set-up out of whack.

Usually, portrait photographers will use negative fill to correct an off-balance ratio of values on a model's face. Still, there are many other scenarios where negative fill is the best way to go for a cinematic and polished final photo. Try using your 5-in-1 or 7-in-1 reflector as negative fill the next time you're in the studio shooting products, especially lifestyles.

Most 7-in-1 combo reflectors include some sort of keying panel, sometimes both green and blue. These can be extraordinarily handy on set if you need to grab a quick, keyable insert shot or plate, but that's not all that they're good for.

For example, travel vloggers and other influencers may benefit from the ability to key themselves conveniently anywhere with little gear, even in a small hotel room.

Although not every 5-in-1 diffusion comes standard with a green/blue screen panel, the black sun blocker and the white diffusion can both stand in readily any time you need to isolate the subject or model to remove the background in post-production.

Is this point a cop-out? There's so much more that contributes to a shot's production value besides the light, model, or even the setting they're in.

"Special effects" like the wind may up the ante significantly—what may very well have started as a blah, boring, and uninspired test shoot at the beach can be elevated into something centerfold-worthy with a little bit of wind action.

Related: How to Make Your Boring Photos More Interesting

Sometimes, Mother Nature will take care of that part for you. Other times, you might need to take matters into your own hands or the hands of a trusted friend.

The benefits of a 5-in-1 reflector in photography go way beyond the scope of this list. We've saved what could probably be considered number one for our finale: combination reflectors weigh nothing, take very little time to implement, are extremely affordable, and require no power or batteries. Talk about the complete package.

Time is everything in photography, especially if you're racing against the sun or a park's closing time. Few investments will help you get the shot in a pinch like a 5-in-1 reflector—extra bounce, diffusion, keying, and a giant flag can all be called upon at a moment's notice, and you won't break your back trying to lug it all around for the entire day. Need we say more?

Can a photographer really have it all? We'll let you decide; make the upgrade and tell us it wasn't worth the thirty bucks you spent. Go on. We'll wait.

5-in-1 reflectors come in many sizes and at many different prices, but the brand you choose matters less than how you end up using them. With time, whipping it out will become an involuntary, physical reflex. We never leave home without ours.

I learn for a living.

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