When we think of off-camera lighting, we usually immediately think of off-camera flash. But there is another option: off-camera continuous lighting. One main advantage that continuous light for portraits has over flash is the WYWIG aspect - what you see is what you get. It is easier and faster to position the light to better effect for your portraits. This of course is only viable when working in relatively low light. In brighter light, you'd obviously be better of using proper flash photography.
With a photo session in New Read more inside...
Colorful, dramatic portraits in the studio with continuous / LED lights
It was a thrill to work with the band Uncured on their promotional photos. They are focused! I expect them to break out and be huge.
During this photo session we mostly worked with the usual Profoto flashes I have in the studio. The brief was to create dramatic photos of the band. I used gridded stripboxes which were gelled. This gave the desired effect. (I will post some of the images in a follow-up post here.) But for one sequence of photos (of which three images are shown here), I changed it up with some Read more inside...
Creative studio portraits with continuous lighting - two perspectives
When my friend, Marco Leibetseder, a commercial photographer in Germany, came to visit, it was time to play in the studio again. Continuing within the theme of 'Two Perspectives' we decided on using only continuous lighting in the studio, and see how we could create portraits that had a bit of depth to them, rather than just being straight-forward renditions of the person in front of the camera. We decided the theme should be: Creative studio portraits with Continuous Lighting.
The concept behind the Two Read more inside...
Shooting for my portfolio in the studio with a model, Kimberly Jay, I wanted to create sets of feminine portraits that looked dramatic, and straddled the boudoir photography genre and had a Film Noir look to them. The classic look of Hollywood portrait lighting has long drawn me, and with a set of Litepanels Sola 4 LED Fresnel Lights (B&H / Amazon), it is a look that I am still trying to finesse.
Other photo sessions where I have drawn on the Hollywood look:
Lighting a vintage styled boudoir photo session (model: Read more inside...
The most adaptable and versatile continuous lighting setup currently might well be the Spekular LED lights (B&H / Amazon). They come as a set of four LED sections (11.8" x 1.57") that can be connected in different ways - as panels or strips or geometric shapes. You decide. The Spekular website shows some of the options. The specifications of the Spekular LED kit only gives a dry idea of what these are capable of. Therefore, with this video review of the Spekular, I wanted to show some of that adaptability, and how these lights might be Read more inside...
I use a range of continuous lighting in the studio - it is essential for video of course, but even for stills, it is sometimes easier to work with continuous lighting than flash. When the Spekular LED lights (B&H / Amazon) hit the market, they caught my eye. What makes them unusual is that the kit comes as 4 LED bars which can be hooked up as a panel, or in any number of shapes up to 8 bars. The Spekular website shows some of the options. This kind of flexibility makes it a versatile continuous lighting kit.
I have other Read more inside...
The video above of Jewell, and the video of Bella - shown in the companion article, planning to shoot a promo video - were both shot within a week of one another. These promotional videos are for a friend, Cate Scaglione, a New Jersey based boudoir photographer. There are part of a theme that Cate wanted to develop in her marketing. The motif for this specific video was that of a working mom allowing herself to indulge in a bit of "me time".
With this article I want to do a run-through of the gear we used. More essential than the gear Read more inside...
Stella Pro 5000 & 2000 video light review - continuous lighting kit
My friend Kevin, or as his friends call him, Kevin, brought along his new Light & Motion Stella Pro 225 3-Light Kit (B&H / Amazon) to the studio for us to play with. The Stella Pro 5000 video light is powerful enough that you can use a softbox with it when shooting indoors. Where continuous lights really shine, is in how they allow you to adjust your lights in a WYSIWYG way. What you see is what you get - that's just how continuous lights work. That aspect makes video lights ideal when Read more inside...
Studio photography - Capturing movement with continuous lighting
The effect here, which makes me think of black flames, was the result of a slow shutter speed (1/20th) in the studio, using continuous lighting. The short duration of a flash pulse would've frozen the movement, so I needed continuous light for this effect. I used two Litepanels Astra EP 1×1 LED Panels (B&H / Amazon) that I bounced into a V-flat to soften the light. I also used another V-flat to partially block the light towards her feet for more light fall-off to the bottom. The photo below is a pull-back Read more inside...
Using the Profoto B1 modeling lamp as a video light
Looking through the past articles on this blog, you'll notice that I love using a video light for low-light photography. A video light adds that sense of drama to portraits, and very often blends better with the existing ambient light, than flash would.
Lately though, I haven't bothered to bring a video light to weddings for the romantic portraits - I already have the Profoto B1 there with a substantial enough modeling light! Less gear to carry with me! Since I rely heavily on my Profoto B1 flashes (B&H / Amazon), I Read more inside...
