Photography with continuous LED light
We have always said that studio photography is done with strobe lighting. And it still submits the richest opportunities for accessories, power output and affordable prices. By the other hand people with lack of experience in the studio usually find the strobe lighting scary because the result is not visible before pressing the button and requires certain preparation.
Until recently all the alternatives of the strobe lighting for photography were rather compromise and expensive. The halogen light is too ineffective, glow too much and consumes too much energy, it’s hard to diffuse and literally melt the light control accessories. The fluorescent light is hard to control and adjust. And as a rule all the solutions good at least a little as the strobe lighting were several times more expensive.
The developing of LED technologies offer us better and better LED continuous lighting, which have suitable power output for studio photography and are enable to use a wide variety of accessories for controlling the light. Also the LED technologies provide the opportunity for design specialized light bodies with a variety of forms.
Some of the main advantages of the LED lighting are:
- low energy consumption and high luminous efficiency. Approximately 1 W consumed energy is equal to 10 W tungsten halogen light. This capability leads to the next two.
- decreased operation temperature – gives the opportunity to use the whole range of light control accessories.
- self-powered – can be charged with batteries, inverters and generators
- power adjustment – the LED is the only lighting which practically does not change its color temperature when adjusting the power output
- no consumables – with halogen lighting the service life of the lamps is between 10 and 300 hours, with fluorescent lighting – 7000-8000 hours. The LED light has approx.. 30 000 – 50 000 hours service life which makes it practically eternal. Please, pay attention that poor cooling of the LED bulbs and their supply can significantly decrease the service life.
These several products are in the focus of these trends:
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Body and front fit as a studio lighting, compatible with practically all lighting control accessories. 100 W LED bulb is equal to 1000 W standard tungsten halogen. The power output is perfectly suited for product photography and as a fill light in portrait photography. |
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This is the big brother of Iceberg E-100. The power output is double – 200 W or equal to 2000 W standard tungsten halogen. It allows you to shoot by hand with comfort exposures and low sensitivity. In combination with the huge opportunities for light control this is a real alternative of the studio flash. |
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This is a studio LED panel with power output of 100 W. When you want to diffuse the light from a spot light source such as halogens, studio flashes and the Iceberg series you have to sacrifice the half of the power output. This is the lost from the diffuse surface. Generally CN-T504 has big cover surface and high power output and it’s extremely effective source of a soft, diffuse light. |
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This is a very interesting product that can provide the effect of shadow free ring lighting and the distinctive catchlight in the eyes of the model and at the same time can serve as a diffuse lighting due to its big surface. You can create interesting effects in your portraits using only one of these, as you can see in the examples below. |
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This little fellow is designed for product photography and more precisely for shooting small objects, products, jewelry. The included stand is very convenient for directing the light in the desire way and saves you from buying an extra light stand. Available single and included in kits of 2 or 3 pieces with a set of backgrounds as a complete solution for product photography. |
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Here I mean not only this particular model, but all other camera LED lighting, which have and many other applications. CN-216 is specially on an affordable price and provides an output suitable for shooting on a low ambient light. It’s charged with batteries and its size allows you to take it everywhere with you in your photo bag. |
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This is the smallest representative of the LED panels and the biggest one charged with Sony NP-F batteries. The affordable price allows you to use self-charged lighting on every location you go, in all conditions with small budget. In just one bag you can carry a whole studio, which you can use on places without power supply without using expensive power generators or industrial batteries. |
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This is a high class LED lighting. The Fresnel lens directs and increases the efficiency of the lighting. In combination with its 200 W power output this is the most powerful LED light. It provides precise adjustment of the power and the light angle. The body corresponds to the high class product and implies a long and trouble-free use. |
On Photo Forum Fest 2014 we made a photo studio entirely of LED lighting consisting of
Iceberg E-200
Iceberg E-100
DY-200 LED fresnel light
Ring LED light CN-R640
The advantage of using LED light during an event is that everybody can shoot and see the result at the moment:
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And the studio looked like this:
Under the spotlights that evening was the Ring LED Light CN-R640. Here are some examples made with it:
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The ring LED light finds its purpose also in the fashion photography. Here is a photo - autoportrait of Manuela Stamenova illuminated with CN-R640:
The LED light is also a good alternative for kids photography. The next photo is taken at home.
CN-T504 - main light
Iceberg E-200 with softbox 60х40 with grid - for contra
LED lamp 15W of the socket on the interior lighting - fill light
CN-T96 - to add some accent on the christmas tree
The last example I am going to give is for using a portable lighting on the camera. 30 min before the start of Tour of Vitosha (mountain running competition and cycling), 22:30 h, light rain and 1/3 inoperative streets light. The built-in flash of the camera has made flat and expressionless light. I didn’t see as a suitable option experimenting with manual flashes and flash triggers under the rain, especially considering the rush of the participants at that moment. So with a camera in my right hand and CN-216 and an umbrella (for the rain, not for the lighting) in my left hand I made photos of a lot of the participants. On this photo is the winner of the competition Milen Balabanov:
