All About LED Lights

LED lights can be your best choice for lighting your studio. They're inexpensive, don't put out the amount of heat that other studio lights do, and come in a variety of configurations. Their illumination is similar to natural light, and has the versatile color balance. When tungsten lights or fluorescent lights don't fit the situation or the budget, consider LEDs.

What Are LED Lights?

Light-emitting diodes are semiconductors that convert electricity to light. Although you might think of this type of light as new technology, an engineer at General Electric invented the first one in 1962. The original lights were red, followed by yellow, green, and blue. White lights debuted in the 1990s. While colored lights had been used only in things such as clocks and traffic lights, white LEDs gained widespread use in photography and video.

Why Use LEDs for Photos?

LEDs can provide continuous light, as opposed to the off-and-on flashes of strobe lighting. For photography and videography, choose continuous light when you need to mimic certain types of illumination sources, or you need to see the result of composition before shooting an image. LEDs convert 90 percent of their energy into light. This makes them not only a cost-effective choice, but environmentally friendly as well. Like the tungsten light kits that are still popular in videography, LEDs come grouped with accessories in LED lighting kits. If you need convenience, some kits are built around battery LED lights.

LEDs offer a choice of styles. You can use a small panel on a light stand to highlight a face in a portrait, while larger LED panel lights would provide soft light for a full body image. Single LED lights are too small to light a photo, but used as accents, they could add interest to a picture.

How to Use LED Photography Lights

Energy-efficient LEDs are cooler than traditional studio lights. You can place them close to a subject without causing discomfort. You can also use them in spaces that are too small to be safe for lights that run hot. These characteristics make LEDs useful for portrait photography. For drama in your portrait, put a light on either side of your subject. This results in an all-over highlight. If your design calls for only one highlight, place a light on just one side. Use colored LEDs to alter the mood in your photograph. Since LEDs are continuous light, you can move around as you compose a shot, or use a remote camera control. If you're a videographer, this constant light is suitable for action shots.

LED lighting provides a convenient and cost-efficient light source for photography and videography. Whether you need just one item or a complete kit, you can find great options at B&H Photo Video.