Continuous Lights Versus Strobes: Which Are Right for Your Work?

When you're buying your first lighting gear, you have to make a decision before anything else: continuous lights or strobes? This great video will talk about the advantages and disadvantages of both and which is right for you.

Coming to you from Jay P. Morgan of The Slanted Lens, this helpful video breaks down the pros and cons of continuous lights and strobes. If you're working in video, you have no choice but to use continuous lights, but if you're shooting photos, then strobes may be the better choice, though you could certainly use continuous lights in a lot of situations. The big draw of continuous lights are that you can see exactly how the light is being rendered in real-time as you're setting it up. With strobes, you're working in the dark until you take a shot and examine it, but you gain other advantages, such as much higher power outputs that give you greater flexibility, particularly outdoors. Of course, as you gain more experience, you'll learn how to position lights without having to check your images as often, and the reasons you might prefer one or the other may evolve. Check out the video above for the full rundown. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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