Hello, friends!

Today we'll talk about LED light, which I just talked a little about, especially when applied to subject photography.

But today's kit is just intended for subject photography.

LED Subject Light Kit provided by PhotoProCenter.

Difference Between LED and Pulsed Light Applied to Product Photography

Pulsed light

The pulsed light is controlled by aperture, ISO and light source power.
It is easier to "freeze" the subject with pulsed light, and therefore, as a rule, the photographer can not think about the shutter speed at all, setting it to 1/125 sec for F11 and be sure that the constant light from the ceiling lamps will not interfere with him.

LED light

The LED light is constant and therefore, when working with it, you need to take into account the shutter speed, aperture, ISO in the camera and the power of the light source, if there is a regulator. The shutter speed should be short enough so that there is no "blur" at the time of shooting. For most cameras, the shutter speed limit for handheld shooting is 1 / lens. In this case, the crop factor must be taken into account if it differs from one. That is, let's say you have a 100 mm lens and a camera with a 35 × 24 mm full-frame sensor. Your handheld shutter speed should be no faster than 1/100 sec.
If you have a camera with a crop factor of 1.6, then the slowest shutter speed for handheld shooting should be already 1/160 sec. actually limits us to the camera's angle of view, and not the actual focal length of the lens, which is a physical parameter of the lens and nothing more.

Color rendering index

LED lamps are characterized by color temperature, color rendering index and color temperature deviation at different wattage.
“People” usually consider CRI (color rendering index) to be the color rendering index, but today there are more stringent criteria for assessing the spectrum of LEDs (CQS and TM-30-15), but manufacturers of LED lamps usually do not provide data on them. I will write in more detail about CRI and methods for assessing the color rendering index in other articles. Today I propose to believe that CRI should be greater than 95 for a decent result. The higher the better.

Outcomes

LED Light Master

The Master LED light comes in a small case that includes two LED lights, a control unit, curtains and reflectors.

There were 4 light sources in my kit because I specifically asked for four for my exercises, and then you will understand why.

Appearance, workmanship

The lamps are in a metal case and are very compact. In terms of workmanship, there are no complaints, everything is done with high quality.

The lamp can change the angle of inclination in a fairly wide range, in the photo below you can see the angle of maximum deflection back.

Lamps are mounted on a 5/8 "photographic pole (the most common mount).

The lamps are equipped with metal curtains that limit the luminous flux. This can be quite helpful.

Also included is a plastic reflector that makes the luminous flux more directional.

The control unit is a small, lightweight metal box with four dimmers - power controls.

I am glad that all connectors are equipped with locks, so that unexpected disconnection of the cord is excluded.

From the lamp there is a short cord of about 20 cm, which must be connected to the main long cord through the same connector with a lock.

Once we have connected the lamps to the power supply and secured them to stands or other fixtures, we can start shooting. I chose jewelry for shooting.

Specifications

Passively cooled lamp, selectable color temperature 3000K (warm light) or 5000K (white light).
Color rendering index CRI> 95.
Power supply 220 / 24V, with the ability to connect up to 4 lamps.
Smooth power adjustment from 0 to 100 W.

Working with LED light Master

For some jewelry, such as rings, the easiest way is to use an acrylic cone. First, it covers most of the viewing angle that the ring “sees”. The ring has many rounded surfaces and is therefore more difficult to "shield" with flat reflectors.
At the same time, there is an expanding hole on the back side of the cone, which will allow leaving unshielded space and thereby preserving the black glossy background. If there was no hole, then the white reflector would be reflected in the glossy table and the table would turn gray instead of black.

Use glossy black acrylic as a table so that there is a reflection under the ring, which visually enhances it.

LED Light The Master works through the cone, illuminating certain areas of it. There is no universal scheme, you need to move the lamps and observe the reflections in the ring and stone. A huge plus when working with Master LED point sources is that they allow you to highlight a small spot on the cone, thus creating gradients on the ring and greatly changing the highlighting of the stone facets.

It is completely inconvenient to do this with larger LED sources, and they usually do not allow getting a small spot, getting very close to the wall of the cone.

To see what happens, I used a special table with a stand (a heavy metal circle and a system of connecting rods) of my own design, on which a monitor stood and a picture was displayed via HDMI, but in the end the HDMI connector loosened and I had to switch to a laptop.

The LED light control unit was also located there. It is very convenient that all lamps are controlled from one unit and there is no need to run around the shooting location, changing the power of the sources.

Result

Impressions from work

My impressions of the Master LED light are generally very positive. Most of all, I liked the 5000K lamps, since they give white light and we can immediately see what is obtained by the colors.
The brightness of the lamps is sufficient for most types of product photography, if you are shooting with a tripod. If you're shooting handheld, the working aperture will be around F5.6 if you want to shoot at ISO 100.

Ideally, I would like to have even more lamp power, but then they definitely required active cooling. They already get quite hot when they run at full power for a long time. More power leads to larger heat sinks and therefore reduces the mobility of work. If the lamps are stationary, then this is not important, but if you move them over a fragile structure, then it is very important that the lamp that you have in your outstretched hand is small and light.

I would also like to note the wire that holds the lamps. A small "tail" of 20 cm extends from the lamp, and the main cord is long and thin. The manufacturer specifically changed the type of cord at my request. otherwise, it was inconvenient to move the lamp with a heavy cord. This version is adapted so that you can easily walk with the lamp on long cord by studio. Thus, LED lamps turn into "light brushes" and this opens up completely new horizons in photography for the photographer.

- cleaning the product and the shooting surface, the location of lamps and reflectors,
- and the possibility of obtaining the entire product in different ways,
- comfortable acrylic cone attachment that I have developed,
- stellar effects that many people love so much
- other applications of LED light in subject photography.

About this some other time :) Write if you are interested!

LEDs are becoming more and more an attribute of everyday life. And for good reason. They have tons of advantages, but let's take a look at the ones that are important to us, photographers and videographers.

Advantage number one- this is a low consumption of electricity. Of course, for photography or video filming, no one, in principle, regrets electricity. Even in professional video studios, where there is an ongoing process of filming, electricity bills are not the most important item of expenses. But! We, photographers, are still worried about the low consumption of electricity in the case when we have to carry energy sources - batteries. That's when you start to think, “how much electricity weighs”.

And if a gas generator will most likely be used as an autonomous power source for a halogen, the luminescent illuminator can already work, weighing 5-6 kilograms. An LED source consumes even less than a luminescent one, but most importantly, it operates on low voltage direct current and, therefore, can operate on portable batteries used for camcorders, or even from AA batteries. This is what often becomes a decisive moment when choosing what to take for an away session?

Second advantage- indestructibility and safety. Of course, they are afraid of a hammer, as well as falls, but still not like most other lighting fixtures. All other lighting fixtures use glass lamps, and glass is a very fragile material. Halogens and flash lamps should not even be touched with your fingers, since the remaining dirt from them will lead to damage when heated. The LED illuminator is a practically cool design that can be carried in the pocket of an equipment backpack and even if it gets dusty, just shake it and wipe it with a cloth.

Third- power regulation... Yes, LEDs can shine with different wattage! Say it's unprecedented - flash lamps and halogens can do that too, and even some fluorescent illuminators have power control! So: everything is so, but not so.

First, let's exclude flash bulbs. They, of course, are better for photography in all respects, but they flash, and do not burn constantly. Next, let's deal with two other "competitors" - halogen and.

How they regulate - they reduce the power supplied to the lamp. Since the glow in a halogen is an incandescent process, by decreasing the power, we also reduce the color temperature. As a result, color distortion occurs.

How are fluorescent illuminators controlled?

If you try to reduce the power supplied to the fluorescent lamp, the lamp will start blinking. The starter, which ignites the gas in the tube, accumulates energy more slowly, and the lamp will blink noticeably to the eye. Therefore, adjustment on fluorescent illuminators is possible in only one way - the lamps are turned off there. If, for example, there are 6 lamps in the illuminator and on the back side it has 6 switches, respectively, the adjustment step for such a device is 1 lamp.

Fourth - durability... It is not known whether anyone has tested it in practice, but the lifespan of the LEDs is 50,000 hours. Such a figure, of course, is more of a marketing ploy, since this is the service life of the diodes themselves, and the illuminator will most likely fail faster, since it still has a control board, etc. But all the same, this is a very long time, even in compared to the lifetime of a halogen lamp, which is "only" 100-500 hours.

Fifth - no heating... In principle, of course, they also heat up, but up to permissible temperatures - for example, it is impossible to get burned. And the most important thing is that LEDs will not melt the filters and those who like to shoot with constant light, while using it, will get great pleasure from their work.

Flaws there is. What are the advantages of analogs? A large emitting area is needed for good luminosity. For example, an ekpopair of a panel of 600 YongNuo YN 600 LEDs at a distance of 1 meter:

• aperture - 4.0 and 9/10 "
• shutter speed - 1/60 s
• ISO - 100

This large panel, measuring 15x23 cm (plus margins of 1-2 cm). It is difficult to put a tube on such a panel in order to get spot illumination. However, several manufacturers have already started producing fixtures with bright LEDs centered in one small rectangle, such as the FTR-1131 Jinbei EF-100 LED.

One more weak side the device is the spectrum of its radiation, with a pronounced blue color. Since the radiation of an LED is not a heating process, the radiation from it is somewhat different from the spectrum of sunlight or flash. But this becomes critical only for highly professional shots, although it is quite simple to correct with light filters. And instrument manufacturers are successfully fighting this phenomenon.

Fluorescent lamps took about the same evolutionary steps in their time: first, there was a craze, then they found critical flaws (flickering, harmful to the environment, an unpleasant spectrum) and began to fight them. Modern luminescent studio lighting no longer flickers, shine with the desired color temperature and have occupied their niche. They can be seen now in any video studio.

LED lighting is taking the same steps, it is constantly being improved, cheaper, and do not be surprised if in a dozen years fluorescent lamps can only be seen in a horror movie in scenes where the heroes are examining abandoned buildings.

Studio photography has become an integral part of our time. It is convenient and versatile, and allows you to do much more than usual. It is ideal for professional photography. However, a good photographer should be able to work in his “workshop”, especially if he decides to open one at home. Good studio photography involves a lot of different work, from choosing the right set to working with lighting. It is about lighting for a home photo studio that we will talk with you today.

No good photographer would trust window light or ordinary lamps in room. Light for filming or photographing should be artificial and worked out according to long-established lighting schemes. And after reading this article, you will learn how to make professional lighting for your home photo studio with your own hands. The advantages of creating studio lighting yourself will be low budget and an understanding of how it works.

Organization of light in a home photo studio

Many people imagine a photographic studio as a warehouse of a large amount of very expensive equipment and technology. This is exactly what photography beginners fear when they refuse to create their own studio. In general, the advantages of a home photography studio are colossal:

• shooting turns out to be much more professional than on the street or in a regular room;
• there are more possibilities for creating a photo story;
• there is no dependence on any factors related to the location of the shooting;
• it is possible to customize the desired lighting yourself to get exactly the effect that suits you.

These are not all the pros, but you can dwell on them for now. True, so that your photography is really on high level, you need to enlist the help of some technique.

List of the most necessary equipment for high-quality shooting in a photo studio:

1. A professional camera with a good lens.
2. A pair of flash units on tripods.
3. At least two backgrounds of different colors.
4. Synchronizer.
5. At least one umbrella.
6. At least one soft box.

It will not be superfluous to have a carrying bag for storing the equipment in case you need to go somewhere.

But equipment is not all you have to deal with when creating lighting for your photo studio. The first is the correct arrangement of equipment and, above all, lighting devices. But first you need to understand how the lighting is arranged in a photo studio, and how you can work with it for your needs.

For studio work, several different types of lighting are usually used. Their names speak for themselves:

The same types of backlighting are suitable both for photography and for filming at home, for example, in advertising. For high-quality artistry of shooting, it is necessary to be able to combine all these types. Different lights can create different atmospheres in a photo or on film. A skillfully set light can hide some of the model's flaws, or artistic scarcity in the frame. It is worth watching the contrast and the shadows, because shadows tend to change the mood of the photo.

Types of light sources

For beginners, it is still not clear how exactly the light is placed in a photo studio. Before we move on to lighting schemes, we need to talk about two types of light sources. They are the main elements of the schemes, their basis.

The first type is constant light.

A very easy to understand light source, similar to normal indoor lighting. True, in contrast to the lighting we are accustomed to, with constant light, halogen and LED lamps are used. In addition, these sources are directed by the operator himself for the needs of filming, in order to see how the frame will turn out at the output. This light is much more powerful than ordinary light in the room, so it turns off during the shooting itself, so as not to waste energy. Constant light is not associated with photo or video equipment, it is turned on only when needed.

This type has its advantages. Firstly, it allows you to see the frame as the camera sees it, and if the photographer is not satisfied with something, he can easily move the light. Also, it does not need to be adjusted to the camera, because it is much easier to adjust the camera to the light. The constant light will be an excellent assistant to the beginner in learning the basics.

The second type is pulsed light.

This type refers to intermittent light sources in the form of short, powerful flashes. In contrast to constant light, halogen and flash lamps are used here. This light is synchronized directly with the camera to fire when the shutter closes. By the way, this light is not used in video filming. But it is the most necessary light for every professional photographer. For such a light source, batteries and an obligatory step-down transformer are needed so that the halogen lamps do not burn out.

Pulsed light is much more powerful than continuous light for several reasons. Firstly, due to the fact that it is issued in portions, in flashes, it manages to accumulate a lot of energy and release it at full power in an instant. In addition, one, even the smallest, impulsive source is enough to illuminate an entire room, which is very important for budget filling of a studio. And in nature, this light source is actively used to create a separate light accent. There is only one drawback of this choice - with frequent shooting, an enormous amount of energy is consumed.

Additional lighting devices

Of course, the light is made not only with the help of equipment, but also with the help of additional attachments. The most commonly used and best spotlight attachment - the soft box - can be made by hand.

To make it you need:

• box made of thick cardboard;
• foil;
• spotlight (lamp) with a halogen lamp;
• translucent fabric in light colors;
• rail;
• knitting needles;
• glue;
• scissors;
• copper wire;
• clothespins.

First, you need to make the frame of the soft box from the box by cutting off its lid. Further, the inner walls must be pasted over with foil so that the light of the lamp can be easily reflected. To soften the chiaroscuro, fabric is glued in place of the hole. A round hole is made in the bottom of the box so that a spotlight lamp can be installed using copper wire. After that, the whole structure is attached to a massive rail, which can be used as a stand for a microphone or a lamp, and is covered with a one-piece fabric cover using clothespins.

Your homemade and budget soft box is ready, but you should use it very carefully and turn it on exclusively for photography.

Lighting schemes

Finally, we come to the most important point of our article - the schemes for setting the light in the studio. How do you make your lighting fit your subject matter? For this, light sources, searchlights and other equipment must be set in a certain way, relying on the number of impulsive and constant sources, as well as on the very task set for the operator. Lighting schemes are needed to help the photographer create the desired effects related to the light flux. This helps to change the shades of colors to the desired ones, to make the model more or less voluminous, and in a person it can even visually change the age.

You need to work with all circuits separately. They are not a panacea, but they help in work, being the basis for building. There are a large number of schemes, but good photographers know how to build on only three of the most classic ones. We will take a closer look at them.

Video

1 490 ₽

Ring lamp
Professional large ring LED lamp from METTLE, TL and OKIRA in FULL SET AND 1 YEAR WARRANTY!

LEAVE YOUR NUMBER additional VIDEOS With LAMPS I will send you to WOTSAP!
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The lamps are equipped with dimmable. You can adjust the ring light from warm to cool, you can perfectly match the tone for your photos. (2800K - 6200K)
- All lamps in the kit come with a large folding tripod, 2 meters, with tilt adjustment
- Flexible universal phone / camera clip for all bulbs included
- 180 degree tilt of the ring, which is very convenient for the work of a master in the field of the beauty industry

1. Ring lamp 26 centimeters + tripod 2 meters + clip for phone or camera - an option for novice bloggers and manicurists (it is convenient to work on the road, the lamp is very compact)

2. Ring lamp 30 centimeters + tripod 2 meters + clip for phone or camera - bright, compact, suitable for traveling work

3. Ring lamp 32 centimeters + tripod 2 meters + clip for phone or camera + REMOTE CONTROL (you can adjust the light from a distance) - ideal for a blogger or photographer, tattoo artist and photography

4. Ring lamp 33 centimeters + tripod 2 meters + clip for phone or camera + REMOTE CONTROL (you can adjust the light from a distance) - the best option in terms of price and quality for a beginner blogger or specialist in the beauty industry, as well as photographers for subject shooting

5. Ring lamp 34 centimeters + tripod 2 meters + clamp for phone or camera + bag - top option for everyone, usually bought by professionals and beauty salons, tattoo parlors

6. Ring lamp 36 centimeters + tripod 2 meters + clip for phone or camera - choice
professional, beautician, make-up artist and photographer

7. Lamp ring 45 centimeters + tripod 2 meters + clip for phone or camera (3 pcs.) - touch control, cool design and 3 smartphone mounts

8. Round lamp 49 centimeters + tripod 2 meters + holder for the phone + bag-case - the best option for professional photography studios and everyone who needs the most powerful bright, good light

🚚 Delivery in Moscow and TODAY, BY COURIER TO THE ADDRESS
✈ Delivery across Russia by AVITO-DELIVERY, Mail or SDEK in 2-4
✔ 1 year warranty, we issue a receipt document
(No one except us will give you such a guarantee! We have our OWN SERVICE CENTER in Moscow!)
⚡ Self-pickup-Showroom in the city center right next to the metro!
(You can come to us, touch everything and see. We have a large selection, everything is always available and you will definitely find something for yourself)

Usage guide LED luminaires
Taking photographs indoors meant, until recently, setting a digital camera's white balance for incandescent bulbs. Anyone who has used incandescent bulbs when shooting knows that it is rather difficult to shoot with them. their color temperature does not always allow for proper camera setup. Some of the cheap LED (Light Emitting Diode) fixtures available on the market can provide the full spectrum of colors required. Sometimes, what you see in the camera monitor and in real time differs from each other.

Use with any light you like We are now spoiled for choice with a large selection of digital cameras and lighting for them. LED photography lights have changed the way we think about video photography. While along with film cameras, special emulsions were bought for each type of light - different and it was a long and laborious process of converting images with special light filters. Now we can simply adjust the white balance on the camera for a specific situation: sun, cloudy, incandescent, fluorescent, flash, etc. In some cases, you can manually set the desired color temperature, for example, between 2000 and 1000 Kelvin.

This means that, by at least, in theory, you can use any type of light and get results that are close to real shooting conditions. But for this you need to know the temperature of the light you are using. Shots taken in RAW format can always be corrected in post-processing, but you should remember that the LCD displays the images in JPEG format so it's best to check the color temperature of your light source. This will shorten the post-processing time on the computer.

There are so many types of light right now that it is very difficult to choose the right one for you. Previously, photographers used lighting that was at hand, most often incandescent bulbs. With a digital camera, you can set the white balance to "incandescent" and the camera will simply remove all the "yellow" in the photo. On the this moment Incandescent bulbs are very rarely used and have been replaced by LED photography bulbs. Such lamps are slightly more expensive, but their energy consumption and durability are several times longer than that of incandescent lamps. This means that photographers have to adapt to this type of lamp and there are many reasons for this.
Choose your lamps wisely
LED bulbs give the same light as tungsten, but with less energy. LED bulbs are also easier to work with because they don't come out as warm as tungsten bulbs. Also, LED lamps burn out less.

There is a misconception that LED bulbs are less powerful because they have fewer watts, but this is not true. All LED bulbs have "real wattage" and "equivalent wattage" shown on the packaging. Real wattage indicates the actual amount of electricity, while equivalent wattage indicates the wattage of the lamp itself. For example, a 5W LED has an equivalent power of 30W. This means it will be cheaper to use them in your photography studio, but you will still get the same light as a 30W incandescent bulb.

First of all when buying led lamp its power should be watched. The second thing to pay attention to is the color temperature. For example, light with a temperature of 3500 K is called "warm", and has a soft yellow-orange tint, and 6000 K or more is "cold", and has a bluish-white tint. The current LED standard is warm white (3000K) and cool white (6000K). One of the examples in this article has a temperature of 4000 K. Another example is a temperature of 3000 K.