When you think about shooting in a studio, you probably thing about using strobes to create the light. I'm here to tell you that continuous lights (hot lights) are also an amazing source of light. They can be used for more creative images, as well as more traditional images. They're also a great tool for less experienced users, as they're pretty much what-you-see-is-what-you-get.
Hot lights are not typically as powerful as strobes. They come in a variety of wattages, but the most popular are 500W and 1000W. They're traditionally tungsten, but now come in fluorescent and LED as well. These newer sources are not nearly as hot (temperature wise), but I'd assume they're still called hot lights. Because they're not as powerful, they allow you to shoot at a lower aperture and get a nice, out of focus background, which isn't always possible with strobes.
Another advantage of using continuous light is that you can incorporate motion into your exposures. By using a slower shutter speed, any motion is recorded and blur is introduced. Depending on how fast your subject is moving and how long your shutter is open, your results will vary from very slight blur to ghostly images.
I've been using 500W hot lights and love them! I'm able to shoot at f/2.8, 1/80th of a second and ISO400 and get some amazing photos! Here are a few of my favorites I've taken recently using hotlights:
Now, compare that to this image taken with strobes:
Notice how in the first two images, the eyes are in focus but everything else quickly goes out of focus, while in the third image everything is nice and sharp, even with the wind blowing her hair? That's the power of hot lights!
Photo credit:
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment