I hate that I’m just now seeing this and also just now thinking of using continuous for portraits. I’ve always used it with food and product photography because I put the lights closer but using continuous with portraits, GAME CHANGER!!!!
I just found your channel... I owe my livelihood to YOU! I am sad to say I didn't at first 10 years ago consider making photography a career... but that past several years fate has it that more and more people are coming to me for work, and now I am able to make a nice living off of it doing something I actually completely find joy in!
Your posts are always authoritative, immediately actionable and engaging. I started using Rotolighs LED lighting3 years ago and use them both in my home studio as well as for corporate event photography and it has changed the game for me. Thank you for yet again another excellent post.
Far and away the best thing for me about continuous lights is the way they let you watch the model in the light even without the camera. I end up seeing shots that I wouldn't have otherwise. I do love the "magic" of popping a strobe and creating a totally different image to what your eyes could see, just as I loved that same magic of using a DSLR and the difference between what you saw in the viewfinder and the final capture. But just like switching to mirrorless, what was lost in magic was more than made up in efficiency. While I do love this benefit of shooting continuous lights, there is one issue that I'm always aware of if I'm going for a hard light look... they can absolutely blind your model. Strobes allow you to capture shots without worrying about the model squinting, having pinpoint pupils, or being uncomfortable.
I'm going to be in a studio tomorrow and am looking forward to comparing my 600ws strobes to a pair of 1000w LEDs. My plan is to set my exposure for the strobes and then move in the LEDs with the same modifiers and see how close to full power they need to be. I'll be aiming for 1/200, ISO 200, f8. For photography I think strobes will always be king because I don't see me dragging a continuous led outside during the day for a photoshoot when a speed light would probably have more power.
When I go to a musician’s gigs and only have like 5-10 mins to shoot quick pics, I find that a fast set up of small continuous light in extremely dimly lit place afterwards seems to suit me. I took umbrellas modifiers & and stuff to a gig and just seems to be too powerful & too much. Still learning to deal with situations. Thanks Lindsay for helpful suggestions. 💖👏
wow!! thank you for this. so much great information, it’s been a lot for me to consider and this helped me categorize my thoughts and learn more. appreciate it!!
FANTASTIC explanation! Right know I’m trying to decide between strobes or continuous to upgrade from my speed lights. Since I’m doing more video now I wanted to see the possibilities of portrait work with continuous lighting and you’ve inspired me. Thank you! Liked. Subbed. I can’t wait to learn more from you.
I love your work, you are an inspiration for everyone and I hope one day to reach your quality. Several years have passed but damn, you seem always unreachable! Time to study more!
I always learning from your videos. Wish you great success next year also. Great sample picture of collaboration photo from May with Bella Kotak Take care.
Great to see this and get your experience - ive got some very budget LED lights 60W and less and mainly for video work but my Canon 700D is too noisy beyond 800 ISO - im looking forward to an impending upgrade to Canon R7 which will give me more image quality with better dynamic range and less noise and also in body stabilisation all which will help me make more use of my budget constant lights - im planning also to try out using 4K video to capture video of a session but where I might be able to grab stills from that 4K video
Thank you, Lindsay, your comments, suggestions, and product reviews are always useful and accurate. I have mostly Profoto light modifiers in my studio, are there adapters available?
I have Bowens to profoto mounts, and I think there are some adapters the other way but it does depend on the modifier. Softboxes/octaboxes for example are just different speed rings.
Cheapest option for continuous light: halogen or LED construction floodlight + a diffuser from your basic 5 in 1 background/screen set. The only downsides: WB a bit tricky, heavy equipment (for halogen, lighter for LED).
Lindsey do you find yourself using a combination of strobes and continuous in your shoots? Continuous for key, strobes for fill and kickers? 🤔 I've found in my own experience that slower shutter speeds are needed coupled with as you mentioned the higher ISOs. Anthing higher than 1/125'th seem to not let much of the continuous in-albeit I'm shooting with a 100watt setup. THX!! And excellent work as always. 👏
Great Video. However I still couldnt bring my self shooting anything over ISO100 . I guess I was trained in 70's with Fujichrome / Ektachrome / Kodachrome 25!
Watts aren’t a measure of light output of course, so you can have a high efficiency 100w light with the same output as a 200w light. It was once a good guide, but not so much anymore. I’ve gotten away easy shooting clean portraits with two Colbor CL60 60w COB lights (one at 100%, and a fill at 20%) no problem. I was at 100ISO, 1/200 but wide open at f/1.2. I have Godox bowens 34” octoboxes on both.
@@lindsayadlerphoto I'm here watching a pro (you) for a reason lol. Your results look fantastic. I was disappointed not seeing you on the speaker's roster for this year at ProFusion BTW.
I really enjoyed your book on posing and I am in the middle of changing my setup to use continuous lights so perfect timing. I do a lot of full length fashion - single subject. So bigger modifiers like you mentioned. Is 300 watts continuous enough for that? I've always been able to get away with 200 watt strobes for this.
Thanks so much! The continuous lights are definitely something fun to experiment with! I've always used strobes but there are definite benefits to using continuous now as you can see.
I've had a pleasure to attend your presentation at Unique Photo expo a week ago and you mentioned two famous portrait/fashion photographers from the 90s (or 80s?) that you were influenced by. I can't recall the names, can you share that again? Thanks.
I was wondering if you had your students bring a crop sensor Mirrorless or DSLR to your workshop and used your Profoto remote strobe trigger to fire off the strobes. I was wondering if it work properly. The reason why I ask I was at San Francisco Canon Headquarters a few years ago (Before it closed), and they used the Canon trigger and it did not work properly on a Canon Crop sensor DLSR on speedlight trigger.. Just curious.
Such a useful video, thank you so much! I so would like to know what you are thinking about the falcon eyes 68td. Its such a slim light and i am thinking about buying it for continous photography jobs where i am surrounded with small rooms. Do you thinks it has enough outcome for people and portrait photography?
Hi Lindsay- great video and thank you for listing some specific options. Would you say your workbooks are still applicable if you work solely with continuous light? Thank you.😊
It depends on what setups you're doing. Sometimes the continuous lights might not be powerful enough so it really varies. I have continuous lighting setups in a lot of my newer stuff including the Creative Studio Lighting Guide II.
@@lindsayadlerphoto thank you, I am mostly looking at headshots and single portraits - would there still be value in those books and the exclusively continuous set up?
Can you do full body e-commerce photos on seamless white with that Forza 720B? Is it enough light for photos? I have 1x SL200, 1x SL300 and 1x SL60 and it's still not enough for a full body full white seamless e-commerce photography type shoot. I'd guess if you wanna go continuous, for these type of shoots, 2x 300 for the white background, 1x 600D or 720 as a key light. All diffused. The 60w does great for hair lighting. What would you say? Thanks
When it is diffused I think it becomes a bit tough as the main light if your subject is moving and depending on depth of field. I have done TWO 720b behind a scrim before for this.
Isn’t light fall off from flash different than that from continuous light? I feel when I shoot with flash using the exact same modifiers, there’s better tonal gradation than when I shoot the same subject with continuous light.
When u mention 200 w continuos light do u mean a single unit? Or 2 units of 200 w light? Because when we talk about strobes it normaly means 2 units of the mentioned watt..
200 watt is the power of a single light whether we are talking strobes or continuous, unless im not understanding what you mean. The difference between strobe and continuous is that with continuous the watts are measured over time.
Hi! I like to watch your videos but please do put the music level non that high because is really too much. Music should be just a bit lower than your voice.
I case you didn't know, you can put on subtitles or play it back at a slower rate. This is very helpful for those who may not have English as a first language or who think I talk too fast. :P
mixing natural light with continuous light is actually very nice
I hate that I’m just now seeing this and also just now thinking of using continuous for portraits. I’ve always used it with food and product photography because I put the lights closer but using continuous with portraits, GAME CHANGER!!!!
I've fallen in love with them, very versatile!
The Nanlite FS300 and FS300B are bowens mount.
I just found your channel... I owe my livelihood to YOU! I am sad to say I didn't at first 10 years ago consider making photography a career... but that past several years fate has it that more and more people are coming to me for work, and now I am able to make a nice living off of it doing something I actually completely find joy in!
AWWW that is wonderful to hear
Always the most intelligent and complete explanations about a topic. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Thank you!
I always love how you break things down practically.
Your posts are always authoritative, immediately actionable and engaging. I started using Rotolighs LED lighting3 years ago and use them both in my home studio as well as for corporate event photography and it has changed the game for me. Thank you for yet again another excellent post.
Thanks so much for watching!
Far and away the best thing for me about continuous lights is the way they let you watch the model in the light even without the camera. I end up seeing shots that I wouldn't have otherwise. I do love the "magic" of popping a strobe and creating a totally different image to what your eyes could see, just as I loved that same magic of using a DSLR and the difference between what you saw in the viewfinder and the final capture. But just like switching to mirrorless, what was lost in magic was more than made up in efficiency.
While I do love this benefit of shooting continuous lights, there is one issue that I'm always aware of if I'm going for a hard light look... they can absolutely blind your model. Strobes allow you to capture shots without worrying about the model squinting, having pinpoint pupils, or being uncomfortable.
Great information on lighting and gear... Thank you!
The secret is out! Continuous light is versatile and efficient...thanks for this!
I'm going to be in a studio tomorrow and am looking forward to comparing my 600ws strobes to a pair of 1000w LEDs. My plan is to set my exposure for the strobes and then move in the LEDs with the same modifiers and see how close to full power they need to be. I'll be aiming for 1/200, ISO 200, f8. For photography I think strobes will always be king because I don't see me dragging a continuous led outside during the day for a photoshoot when a speed light would probably have more power.
When I go to a musician’s gigs and only have like 5-10 mins to shoot quick pics, I find that a fast set up of small continuous light in extremely dimly lit place afterwards seems to suit me. I took umbrellas modifiers & and stuff to a gig and just seems to be too powerful & too much. Still learning to deal with situations. Thanks Lindsay for helpful suggestions. 💖👏
wow!! thank you for this. so much great information, it’s been a lot for me to consider and this helped me categorize my thoughts and learn more. appreciate it!!
I always watch your videos just in case I need it. I see why the Canon r5 is popular. The pictures would look good at trade show or startup.
Fantastic advice! You put this is a way that was so easy to understand, I'm already more confident!
Thanks Lindsay, you have an incredible gift for teaching ❤️
FANTASTIC explanation! Right know I’m trying to decide between strobes or continuous to upgrade from my speed lights. Since I’m doing more video now I wanted to see the possibilities of portrait work with continuous lighting and you’ve inspired me. Thank you! Liked. Subbed. I can’t wait to learn more from you.
Thanks so much!
Best photography teacher
Thank you so much!
Outstanding job on website and tutorials. Hope to see another video soon or by summer if not busy.
Thank you as always for the kind words and support!
More videos are coming! :D
I love your work, you are an inspiration for everyone and I hope one day to reach your quality.
Several years have passed but damn, you seem always unreachable! Time to study more!
Fall is coming up. See what I can buy to practice with in September. Great video on Canon r5 mark 2. Take care.
This be good for clothing store sample video or photos. Great work!!
Great video and information Ms. Adler. Thank you!
Great video on the subject! Really helpful.
I always watch your channel since it has great information. Wish you great success this summer with your workshop and much more.
Awesome! Love it! Thank you for the education
I always learning from your videos. Wish you great success next year also. Great sample picture of collaboration photo from May with Bella Kotak Take care.
Excellent video and explanations Lindsay. Thank you so much. ❤👏
You’re awesome, thank you for the information!
Loved this. Thank you very much.
Great to see this and get your experience - ive got some very budget LED lights 60W and less and mainly for video work but my Canon 700D is too noisy beyond 800 ISO - im looking forward to an impending upgrade to Canon R7 which will give me more image quality with better dynamic range and less noise and also in body stabilisation all which will help me make more use of my budget constant lights - im planning also to try out using 4K video to capture video of a session but where I might be able to grab stills from that 4K video
Thanks, not a fan of continuous lighting but willing to learn. Hopefully I'll get to meet you Saturday in NJ, signed up for your workshop.
Awesome! See you Saturday!
Great work team Adler! Excellent tips and honest advice especially around multi format content shoots, which are increasingly the "norm"👍
Thank you for another great share!
Excellent as always Lindsay
Thank you!
Thank you Lindsay ❤❤❤
Great advise. Thank you Lindsay!!
Well done on the videos on your website.
GREAT tutorial. Thanks, Lindsay! I'm using continuous light for most of my portrait work now and love it.
Thank you, Lindsay, your comments, suggestions, and product reviews are always useful and accurate. I have mostly Profoto light modifiers in my studio, are there adapters available?
I have Bowens to profoto mounts, and I think there are some adapters the other way but it does depend on the modifier. Softboxes/octaboxes for example are just different speed rings.
Thank you. Please keep it going. I've learned a lot. :)
Happy to help!
I LOVE using continuous light. This was a helpful video. Thanks Lindsay.
Cheapest option for continuous light: halogen or LED construction floodlight + a diffuser from your basic 5 in 1 background/screen set. The only downsides: WB a bit tricky, heavy equipment (for halogen, lighter for LED).
Yes don't all want the "cheapest option". There are other benefits to using lights designed for photography lighting.
Most informative, thank you. Much to consider but continuous lights seem to be good partners for mirrorless cameras re wysiwyg.
Lindsey do you find yourself using a combination of strobes and continuous in your shoots? Continuous for key, strobes for fill and kickers? 🤔
I've found in my own experience that slower shutter speeds are needed coupled with as you mentioned the higher ISOs. Anthing higher than 1/125'th seem to not let much of the continuous in-albeit I'm shooting with a 100watt setup. THX!! And excellent work as always. 👏
I'm more likely to mix and match on location. Continuous for environment and strobe for face! Best! xo
I got zsyb light as my first light it gets very bright it has white light, yellow and even goes on strobe mode.
This is great Lindsey, the only problem seems to be that Adorama shows the Nanlites, all except the Forza 300B, as no longer available..
You can get them through Nanlite directly if they are still available! :D
@@lindsayadlerphoto thanks Lindsay, I will take a look. 📷🙌🏻
Thanks.
Great Video.
However I still couldnt bring my self shooting anything over ISO100 . I guess I was trained in 70's with Fujichrome / Ektachrome / Kodachrome 25!
Watts aren’t a measure of light output of course, so you can have a high efficiency 100w light with the same output as a 200w light. It was once a good guide, but not so much anymore. I’ve gotten away easy shooting clean portraits with two Colbor CL60 60w COB lights (one at 100%, and a fill at 20%) no problem. I was at 100ISO, 1/200 but wide open at f/1.2. I have Godox bowens 34” octoboxes on both.
output over time to be exact!
@@lindsayadlerphoto I'm here watching a pro (you) for a reason lol. Your results look fantastic. I was disappointed not seeing you on the speaker's roster for this year at ProFusion BTW.
@@chosenideahandle Thanks for watching! Sorry I won't be there this year, just a super busy schedule. :D
And what if I shoot with a 90mm 2.8 lens...that's not gonna work so well..I'll have to raise my iso which I really don't want to do..
@@therealdeal4492 Well really those are you only options. Raise the ISO, get stronger lights, or move the lights closer!
I really enjoyed your book on posing and I am in the middle of changing my setup to use continuous lights so perfect timing. I do a lot of full length fashion - single subject. So bigger modifiers like you mentioned. Is 300 watts continuous enough for that? I've always been able to get away with 200 watt strobes for this.
Thanks so much! The continuous lights are definitely something fun to experiment with! I've always used strobes but there are definite benefits to using continuous now as you can see.
I think you'll probably want more like 500 watt if you can afford it in the budget!
Amazing knowledge. I value that a lot.
Pls can you teach us the business side of Photography ma'am?
Yes! I have some classes up at learnwithlindsay.com
I've had a pleasure to attend your presentation at Unique Photo expo a week ago and you mentioned two famous portrait/fashion photographers from the 90s (or 80s?) that you were influenced by. I can't recall the names, can you share that again? Thanks.
Herb Ritts! Thanks for coming!
@@lindsayadlerphoto Thanks!
I was wondering if you had your students bring a crop sensor Mirrorless or DSLR to your workshop and used your Profoto remote strobe trigger to fire off the strobes. I was wondering if it work properly. The reason why I ask I was at San Francisco Canon Headquarters a few years ago (Before it closed), and they used the Canon trigger and it did not work properly on a Canon Crop sensor DLSR on speedlight trigger.. Just curious.
yep! no problem at all. we use the universal remotes
@@lindsayadlerphoto Thanks
All that she said it's true!
Great video! What about subject eye-squinting, particularly at higher continuous wattages? Do you encounter that?
Hmm... not particularly!
"Open your eyes wider" lol.
Such a useful video, thank you so much! I so would like to know what you are thinking about the falcon eyes 68td. Its such a slim light and i am thinking about buying it for continous photography jobs where i am surrounded with small rooms. Do you thinks it has enough outcome for people and portrait photography?
Hi there! Glad you enjoyed the video. Honestly I am not familiar with it all.. id have to see and test it go give real thoughts !
Great video
Thank you!
Hi Lindsay- great video and thank you for listing some specific options. Would you say your workbooks are still applicable if you work solely with continuous light? Thank you.😊
It depends on what setups you're doing. Sometimes the continuous lights might not be powerful enough so it really varies.
I have continuous lighting setups in a lot of my newer stuff including the Creative Studio Lighting Guide II.
@@lindsayadlerphoto thank you, I am mostly looking at headshots and single portraits - would there still be value in those books and the exclusively continuous set up?
I need one of this 😢
Can you do full body e-commerce photos on seamless white with that Forza 720B? Is it enough light for photos? I have 1x SL200, 1x SL300 and 1x SL60 and it's still not enough for a full body full white seamless e-commerce photography type shoot. I'd guess if you wanna go continuous, for these type of shoots, 2x 300 for the white background, 1x 600D or 720 as a key light. All diffused. The 60w does great for hair lighting. What would you say? Thanks
When it is diffused I think it becomes a bit tough as the main light if your subject is moving and depending on depth of field. I have done TWO 720b behind a scrim before for this.
your makeup is so nice girl
Isn’t light fall off from flash different than that from continuous light? I feel when I shoot with flash using the exact same modifiers, there’s better tonal gradation than when I shoot the same subject with continuous light.
yes it is. And it varies between tungsten light vs leds
So do you need to remove natural light when working with continuous lights? or simply having as little of external light as possible?
Little external light as possible as it might affect the exposure.
When u mention 200 w continuos light do u mean a single unit? Or 2 units of 200 w light? Because when we talk about strobes it normaly means 2 units of the mentioned watt..
200 watt is the power of a single light whether we are talking strobes or continuous, unless im not understanding what you mean. The difference between strobe and continuous is that with continuous the watts are measured over time.
Can you mix and match continious and strobes together at the same time??
Of course you can and I do it all the time. Check my other videos!
Which kit light will you consider!
?
Does watts effect brightness more than lumens?
different measurements. Watt is a measurement over time technically.
You look lovely.
Can someone tell me.. when shooting with continuous lights. Can we actually just use Semi manual exposure settings? Such as Aperture priority?
Thanks!
yes thats correct you can!
@lindsayadlerphoto I have shot with continuous light on aperture mode but shutter is very slow ...
Hi! I like to watch your videos but please do put the music level non that high because is really too much. Music should be just a bit lower than your voice.
I'll definitely take note of your feedback, thanks!
@@lindsayadlerphoto Thank you for amazing tutorials Lindsey! 💖
Thanks for watching!
plz create tutrial skin tone color plz plz plz
I do plan on having a color grading tutorial in the future! :D
@@lindsayadlerphoto The issue of color seems to be very hidden from the magazine editors
Geese after spending all this money on strobes now we are going to continues light! 🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️
I know right, the struggle is real lol. I still use strobes of course but I do love the continuous lights now for their versatility.
U talk too fast
I case you didn't know, you can put on subtitles or play it back at a slower rate. This is very helpful for those who may not have English as a first language or who think I talk too fast. :P
Also, sorry that you listen too slow. :)
Some people like continuous light but for me no i hate it . I do use it a lot on products and that's all for portraits it is a non starter