Lights Of My Life

My favorite lighting tools, tips, and techniques.

- Joe Farace

“LIGHT IS LIGHT,” as a wise photographer once told me, and the equipment you use to illuminate a subject may be less important than how you use it. That’s because the most important characteristics of any light source are quantity, quality, color, and direction. The particular hardware you use can also be influenced by where a portrait is made—on location or in the studio—but these four factors still have an impact on creating the final image. It’s obvious that LED studio lighting as a trend isn’t going away anytime soon but just because something is trendy doesn’t mean there aren’t useful alternatives. This month I’ll introduce you to a few, including a surprisingly inexpensive speedlight.

LEDS: THE CURRENT TREND

We know all the cool kids are using LED lighting and why not. It’s continuous, cool in temperature, and ideal for hybrid photography. All the LED lights I’ve tested claim to be daylight balanced but we know daylight comes in all kinds of colors. Tip: To check color, use a pocket diffraction grating spectroscope to analyze the quality of LED lights. These are used by rock and gem collectors and are available on eBay for $30 to $50. 

Rotolight’s AEOS ($995) is a thin—less than an inch—LED light designed for video and portraits and features a combination of continuous and flash lighting. The AEOS produces a color temperature adjustable flash at 200 percent of the 

Who’s It For: Location, studio, and hybrid shooters looking for a powerful continuous color correct light source that also delivers flash capability.