One full power pop of a 200 watt/s strobe light output is the equivalent of a 200 watt Tungsten light for 1 FULL SECOND of exposure. If you want the same amount of exposure at a shorter shutter speed with continuous, you have to double the light output for every time you half the exposure time. That's basically what strobes are doing. They're dumping that full second of 200 watts worth of light onto the subject in a super short period of time. That's why their output is referred to as Watt seconds.
Indeed! Although it's more complicated because of the different efficiencies of the lights in how much of the energy they actually turn into usable light, rather than heat. Btw you shouldn't really have a / in watt seconds, because it's not a division. One watt second is one watt multiplied by one second, not divided. It's also known as one Joule, or approximately the energy it takes to lift an apple one yard (or one meter).
@@barneylaurance1865 so if we drive at 50 m/hr we take 1 hour to cover the 50 mile distance. So if we output 200 watts of power in 1 second, we have 200 watt/second, don't we?
Well not quite. But I like the velocity analogy, so I will use it in my explanation: If we drive 50miles/h for one hour, we travel (50miles/h) * 1h or 50 miles. The reason I like this analogy so much is as follows: While mph is a unit of distance over time, Watt is a unit of Energy over time. So 1W = 1Joule/s If we now leave a 200W light on for 1s it emits a total energy of (200J/s) * 1s i.e. 200W * 1s i.e. 200ws. Watts/s (-> J/s^2) however would be the speed at which the light gets brighter over time, like the amount of acceleration of a car.
If i want same result as a 200 watt strobe, from a continuous 200 watt light, i need to expose my photo for 1 sec. That way i’ll be able to achieve same depth of field and noise level. Correct me if im wrong!
Great video as always Lindsay! Just one more thing to be added in my opinion: when working with a model the strobes (even with modelling light on) are typically less difficult to sustain with the eyes compared to continuous lights. The times I had to shoot with continuous lights, I had to power off very often, because the model was inundated continuously by light which was, almost always, at 100% power. Thank you again for all you make Lindsay :)
Great summary, Thanks. Strobes are very easy to control pupil size in eyes. Continuous light tends to give small pupils. I sometimes use shutter dragging to use both continuous and strobes in combination, but that's a lot of prep.
I find that people aren't particularly tolerant of continuous lights because it's constantly bright. They can easily tolerate flash bc it's such a brief period, even if you are popping shot after shot back to back.
On the 200watt continuous vs 200watt-second strobe: watt-second is a measure of energy, not power. Since as Adler mentioned the strobe might be delivering all its light in just 1/1000 of a second, it's power must be 1000*200 watt, i.e. 200,000 watt. Nine hundred and ninety-nine times more than the continuous light's 200 watt power. Except it's even more than that, because the continuous light's power rating is talking about electrical input, and a lot of that power is still lost as heat not output as light. The strobe's energy rating is referring to the energy in the light output. But the actual power of the strobe doesn't really matter, since you can't synchronise the camera precisely enough to capture it without mixing in a lot of the darkness it outputs before and after the flash (as it does when it's turned off).
Hi Lindsey, fun fact, if one was able to turn on a 200 watts/sec stobe for a full hour, constantly, that would be equivalent to 720,000 watts/hour 😀 minus the melting of the whole studio, including the model and photographer due to the intense amount of heat that it would produce 😂🤣😂
Love this, thanks Lindsay! One "con" of continuous lights I've found doing volume headshots at conferences, and 'step and repeat' photos at galas and other events, is that any passersby can "bogart" your lighting. Meaning, all the time, money, and thought you put into your light is available for anyone to use to enhance their own shots. Obviously, not a concern in a closed set or studio, but in public it's something to think about!
I was a performance last night for musicians and afterwards did some photos for them. I wish I had two LED RGB wands for a super low lighting ambient shoot in the cool looking leather booth w/ drinks etc set up. Would have been cool. Thanks Lindsay. Love your videos.
You stated 200watt led is much less power than an 200ws strobe, which is very true. But I can buy a 200ws AD200 for under $300. A Nanlite Forza 150B Bi-Color LED cost over $500 and has no battery. So for people on a budget that do not buy very expensive Profoto, LED is not a good option at all. 150 watt LED is not useful outside the studio unless you have a Nanlight 720b $1900 which is so big and heavy it is sold with a rolling case. A600ws light with built in battery will run all day shoot. Not so with a 720b. Downsides of LED in order is price, short battery life, weight/size, and low power output. For studio, if you can control the light then the less expensive LED options with color work pretty well but still not a strobe.
Good points In my experience you can spend a lot on both, or a simple daylight fluorescent tube works as a continuous light (for less than $10). I think the point here is that both have their uses, and depending on your situation, its good to be familiar with both. Rental is a good option for that big shoot with the good stuff, provided that you are skilled in using them, and that's where practice with any cheapo lights comes into play
You can achieve great results just from cheap flash lights it is the person that makes full use with what they got. that makes the photo not the the person that pays top money for equipment @@barryobrien1890
One ither downside of continuous light i have experienced is blinding the model to get the exposure i want such as the ISO and aperture im custom to shooting at. The slight benefit of this is their pupils are smaller showing more of the eye color compared to a relatively dark studio and a bright flash. Continuous leds do come in handy when shooting outdoors at night though. Very easy to get a good exposure wven with a 60w led.
I always learning and keep an open mind. Love videos from the photographer and product photographers. I want to thank the photographer and Adorama for great content.
I’m a bit concerned what the continues light does with the eyes/pupils of the subject. Strobes capture them open, but I think the continuous light could make them closed, which is a big problem in the portrait photography.
I'm sure you've shot portraits using the sun and a reflector, or even the sun and a strobe. LEDs aren't going to give you the problems the sun hasn't already. I haven't run into any problems here, but I can't say I've really paid pupils much attention (beyond getting highlights where I want them)! Interesting topic.
One thing is that you can ask the model to look at the softbox with a strobe inside but i would never ask the model to look at the continuous light as this is a problem on eyes strain and it dries out the eyes which is never good for anyone one would never ask someone to look into the sun now would they LED has its place but for portraits shots never ever . Try doing this to a group portrait and see if they like it . NOPE NOPE NOPE
@@chosenideahandle problem is with the person looking directly into the light source, not with the indirect lighting. In that case it would be a problem and strobes are better by my understanding.
I come from 25 years of commercial video directing. And I am still experimenting with flash and continuous light so my kit is half and half but still torn. Love this
I’ve been shooting continuous lately with the Stella Pro CLx10 and Stella Pro Reflex S LED light and I’m happy with the images I get. That said like you mentioned in the video I will use strobe depending on the nature of the shoot. By the way the CLx10 can go up to 10,000 Lumen which is ridiculously bright lol!
For e-commerce clothing, I’m having trouble matching the photos to true colors of the garment even after light room adjustment. Right now the photographer uses a daylight flash. Should the photographer do continuous light?
Hi, Love your videos and I am very amateur but always pick up hints etc. Please STOP the off camera cut aways where I see you from side on - very off putting losing eye contact. It is a modern trend but why do it?
