Lighting News

LED lighting is all the rage with the cool kids and why not? It’s continuous and that’s important for new photographers or anyone wishing to capture hybrid—video and still—imagery. It’s also literally cool, with no eyebrow-melting hot lights making subjects uncomfortable.

Phottix’s 500 watt-second Indra500 TTL Studio Light merges speedlight and monolight technologies and is controlled by the company’s Odin TTL Flash Trigger that works with Canon and Nikon SLRs. (Indra is the Hindu warrior god of sky and rain.)

KILLSPENCER’s Van Styles Special Edition Camera Straps: KILLSPENCER and Van Styles have teamed up to create two new special edition camera wrist straps. Skillfully handcrafted in KILLSPENCER’s Los Angeles workshop, the product merges functionality with the beauty of minimalist design. The KILLSPENCER x Van Styles Camera Wrist Strap is crafted from durable, stylish black leather and embossed with Van’s logo in two color options: Noir and Gilded. 

When I realized that this column would be in the magazine’s lighting focus issue, I looked at the data for the photos I’d taken earlier this year during a nearly month-long combination of safari workshop, assignment, and stock shoot in Africa. What I found surprised me: I’d used flash on about one-third of the 13,000 photos I’d made on that trip. I had no idea I’d used my Speedlights as often as I had.

The trend of using continuous light sources for portraiture that I saw at last year’s WPPI show continues unabated with Westcott’s Two-Light Daylight D5 Softbox Kit being the latest offering. The kit uses fluorescent bulbs as a light source, although that word barely appears in Westcott’s early press material for the kit. Part of the reason may be that when it comes to photographs of people, fluorescent has a negative connotation but nothing could be further from the truth.

Broncolor has introduced the Beautybox 65, a new take on its classic beauty dish. Joining broncolor's extensive line of light shapers, Beautybox 65 features a collapsible design, 25.6 inches front diameter and a white interior.

If you read our story on "7 Reasons You Still Need a Flash Bracket for Photography," perhaps you’ve decided it’s time to purchase one of these photography workhorses. Here are our recommendations for 8 Great Flash Brackets to help you achieve studio-quality lighting on the fly.