Strobe or Continuous Lighting for Studio Work

  Small strobe flash is fine for high speed photography because of it's high speed but does present a problem for the photographer who uses light in a precise way.

It's in fact a guessing game because of the lack of modelling lights to see exactly what the flash is going to do, this meaning  the photographer must rely on guesswork and experience to get a decent result.

Where as studio flash has powerful modeling lights to see exactly what will happen when the flash fires, making it a lot easier to place reflectors around the subject.These lights have the disadvantage that when used on location require a source of power either  by the mains or by a battery pack, that converts the power to a suitable voltage to enable the flash to charge, a generator may also be used, this would be the professionals way of working, hence the small strobe or speedlight is more often used by the keen amateur photographer.

Another way of lighting in the studio is by continuous light , now with the digital age virtually any light source may be used, as we can match the white balance to these lights, they must of course be powerful enough to enable the exposure required which will differ from subject to subject..

This brings studio photography within the grasp of everybody and is a very budget minded way of going about setting up a studio with little investement.

Lesson by:
Phillip McCordall