Your photography studio experience can be enhanced with continuous lighting. Some photography jobs are much easier to finish and produce with this type of lighting. When at Women’s Wear Daily, we almost exclusively used tungsten lighting for a variety of still lifes-makeup, shoes, clothing, fabric and gift items. Recently I used Halogen Quartz Lowell lights for an nude art series for a group art show. It was easier for the models to reveal more emotion with a steady stream of light as opposed to a strobe light popping in their eyes.
One big advantage of continuous lights is that you can see their effects on the setup as you view the scene directly or on the camera's monitor. As you move the lights, you can see the highlights and shadows change on the subject. This allows you to interact with the lighting setup much more than you can when using strobes. It's almost as if you are painting with light. You are not blinding your subject either. In certain situations when I am the photographer and videographer, continuous lighting is the best way to capture your subject both ways. The only real problem with continuous lights is the heat that some kinds of bulbs throw off—specifically tungsten and quartz-halogen bulbs.
Light Balance:
Although a digital camera's white balance control can capture normal colors under a wide variety of lighting conditions, you should be aware that different types of lights cast different colors on a setup. This is why when shooting in homes, photos often have a warm reddish cast, while those taken under some florescent lights look greenish. When choosing studio lights, especially continuous lights, you should investigate two color-related terms used to describe them—color temperature and color rendering index. White balance is crucial for any type of image capture. Continuous lighting bulbs can have varying degrees of strength and color. Let’s take a look at your camera’s white balance icons and the light color they are associated with:
I would capture one or two test images with the appropriate WB setting icon that matches your lighting choice. Some camera bodies can have variations of each WB icon to match the wide variety of bulbs that are on the market.
Color Temperature:
Let’s take a look at Color Temperature. This subject usually has my students perplexed or a little nervous. It is very easy to comprehend with some practice. Color temperature describes how cool or warm the light source appears. For example, incandescent lamps have a warmer, more reddish appearance than colder, bluer HMI lamps. Color Temperature is expressed in degrees Kelvin (K). Daylight on a clear day is about 6500° Kelvin—a mix of direct sun at 5500°K and skylight at 9500°K. Lights with lower color temperatures look red; those with higher color temperatures look blue.
The Color Rendering Index (CRI) is a relative measure of how colors shift when illuminated by a particular lamp as compared to a reference source such as daylight. Daylight has a CRI of 100, the highest possible CRI. The closer the CRI of a light source is to 100, the "truer" it renders color.
Equipment:
Tungsten lamps, especially photofloods, throw off a lot of heat. Some also have an unusually short life span—as low as 3 hours. Because these were the only bulbs available when continuous lights were last popular, they account for the alternate name for continuous lighting "hot lights". I love a Arri Junior 300 Fresnel Light,BK hanging Model $505.75 at Adorama, with barn doors, for beauty and fashion photo shoots. You can shape the light with the barn doors around your subject or behind the subject. The Fresnel light is very intense-think of old Hollywood portraits with the super strong main light source or crafty background light. This light is great for products also. Dark fabrics that suck in light like felt need a strong light to make it pop.
- HMI (Halide Metal Oxide) lamps are small, very expensive arc lamps that generate four or more times the light of tungsten bulbs with less heat. The light is also perfectly daylight balanced. HMI’s are used a lot on movie, tv and fashion shoots. The light they project is beautiful and very easy to adjust. The K 5600 Joker Bug 1600W Beamer Kit for $2,216.00 at Adorama, is a great kit to use for group portraits, fashion and location shoots. Barn doors can be added to shape the light and add colored gels to add some variety to your shoot. This type of light comes in varying degrees of power and intensity.
Fluorescent bulbs are inexpensive, cooler, require 90% less power, and last 100 times longer than tungsten lights—up to 10,000 hours. They can also be dimmed to 3% of their full power and provide a more consistent color temperature. A new type of fluorescent bulb, called a compact fluorescent (CFL) comes in a variety of color temperatures. The 6500°K bulb emits white light commonly called "Cool Daylight" and 5000°K bulbs match midday light. Banks of fluorescents bulbs are generally used on video or television shoots. Lamp units with individual bulbs are sold at a reasonable price and give off only a certain amount of light. I personally love the Flashpoint 17” Fluorescent AC Powered Dimmable Ring Light for $109.99 at Adorama. This light is so flattering and easy to use. The ring light it produces, in your subject’s eyes if used directly in front, is very nice. You can change the intensity of the light with the dimmer. It also works great with video shoots. It is shadow free lighting and works with every system.
LED’s-Light-emitting diodes or LED’s use a fraction of the wattage than your average bulb. When the LED is switched on, electrons and electron holes come together. The result of this process is a release of energy in the form of photons or light. There are a more choices to choose from with this type of light now a days. Most videographers use this light for all sorts of shoots. The light is very flattering for all skin tones. I have used a few variations of this light at different studios. The light I recommend is the Flashpoint CL-1144R LED Circular Light for $229.99 at Adorama. THe soft glow is perfect for lighting people and the head is easy to adjust on a stand. You can achieve a softbox look by using the elastic rimmed cloth diffuser. An umbrella channel is built into the adjustable mount if you want to soften and spread the light further.
Tripods and Light stands. Both are essential for continuous lighting shoots. Tripods and light stands come in a variety of weight and materials. I use a lighter weight tripod that is made out of carbon fiber for most of my location shoots. The heavier Manfrotto tripod I have is used in the studio. Some photographers and videographers love the quick release tripods, while others like a ball head one. It is personal taste and what works best for your work.
Light Stands are made out of better materials these days. The Westcott Pro 8” Free Sliding Light Stand with ⅝ Mounting Stud for $ 35.00 at Adorama, is very easy to use and can handle a big, heavy duty light with ease. The height of your stand is important too. You want to make sure you have enough coverage with your light beam if you have to extend the light section of the stand.
C-Stands are great light stands to own. They have adjustable legs and an extension arm that can give more control and options for your lighting. The Interfit Century “C” Stand with 4” Boom Arm for $139.59 at Adorama is a nice choice for a C-Stand.
Sandbags are a must for any light stand. YOur lighting equipment is too expensive to have fall over because it is top heavy or the legs are not positioned correctly. Sandbags are like added insurance for your equipment. I own a few Flashpoint Weight Sand Bags for $12.95 at Adorama, that hold 10 lb.s.of sand. Place over one of the light stand legs and your light stand is guaranteed to stay put.
