0:02 today we're going to compare strobes and
0:03 continuous lights we're going to take a
0:06 look at the pros the cons of each and
0:07 help you figure out which one might be
0:09 right for your photography [Music]
0:23 [Music]
0:26 hey everybody Lindsay Adler here and I
0:28 have been shooting strobes for decades
0:30 ever since I first dipped my toes into
0:32 studio photography it's been a long love
0:34 affair with light and strobes and
0:36 modifiers but honestly for the longest
0:38 time I never even considered continuous
0:40 lights until the last couple of years
0:42 there have been so many different
0:44 improvements to continuous light from
0:46 output to price to features and now I'm
0:48 using them all the time in my work
0:51 depending on my shooting needs so today
0:52 what I'm going to do is I'm going to
0:54 explain the pros and cons of each
0:56 strobes versus continuous and then help
0:58 you decide which one may be a good fit
1:00 for you all right now I don't want to
1:02 get ahead of myself too much so let's
1:03 start with the basics and the first
1:04 question is what is the difference
1:07 between strobes and continuous light
1:09 strobes which are also referred to as
1:11 flash fire with just a pulse of light
1:13 this light is short but it's really
1:15 powerful strobes can be speed lights or
1:17 monolights or they can be pack and head
1:18 systems and this is what I've been
1:21 shooting for so many years
1:23 continuous lights are also called
1:25 constant lights and they stay on
1:27 continuously just like the name suggests
1:30 and so for many new photographers if
1:31 they're brand new to artificial lighting
1:33 this is a really big benefit because
1:34 it's what you see is what you get in
1:35 other words if you're shooting with a
1:37 mirrorless camera and you have an
1:38 electronic viewfinder and you look in
1:40 the back of your camera you can see how
1:41 as you change settings it changes
1:43 exposure how it changes the look of the
1:45 image it's just it's really intuitive
1:48 strobes however are much more
1:49 complicated when it comes to exposure
1:51 and I've actually gone ahead and left a
1:52 couple links in the description below
1:54 where I go through and break this down
1:56 and I talk a little bit about how you
1:58 can understand exposure when working
1:59 with strobes but that's not what this
2:00 video is about
2:03 now with continuous lights there's a
2:04 little bit more complication as well
2:06 because there's a lot of different types
2:08 you can have LEDs and tungsten and
2:09 fluorescent and hmis and it makes it
2:11 complicated because there's so many more
2:12 options to consider and so for that
2:14 reason today we're going to focus
2:18 primarily on continuous LEDs so you'll
2:20 remember that I said I didn't shoot
2:21 continuous lights for a really long time
2:23 and that's because they used to have a
2:26 ton of downside for example old hot
2:28 lights they used to draw a ton of power
2:29 I cannot tell you how many different
2:31 Breakers I tripped they used to
2:33 literally be hot like hot to the touch I
2:36 even caught something on fire once and
2:37 if you wanted a lot of output you had to
2:39 spend a lot of money plus there weren't
2:41 really many modifier options but in the
2:44 past several years all of this has
2:45 changed with LED lights and so that's
2:47 why I'm going to focus my attention in
2:50 this video to LEDs as we compare
2:52 continuous and strokes today's LEDs they
2:54 have a lot more output they're cooler
2:56 lights they're more affordable they have
2:58 a ton of modifier options and so they
2:59 really are a good fit for many
3:01 photographers now I definitely could
3:03 make a video that would be an hour long
3:05 on this topic and dive into every
3:07 different aspect but instead I'd rather
3:08 save you time and help you focus on the
3:10 most important comparisons like really
3:11 look at the pros and cons that will
3:13 matter to you and so this video is going
3:15 to be a little bit more concise but if
3:17 you want something a little more in
3:19 depth and you want to see continuous
3:22 lights in action I actually have an
3:23 educational membership platform called
3:25 learn plus I have a dedicated episode
3:27 towards continuous light where I create
3:29 six completely different setups and I
3:31 take you behind the scenes where I show
3:34 you the concept the preparation I talk
3:37 about styling and posing and lighting
3:39 and modifiers and much more so if you do
3:40 want something more in depth you want to
3:41 check out the link I've left in the
3:44 description for that as well okay so we
3:46 are going to dive into the pros and cons
3:48 of each of these so let's begin with
3:50 strobes one of the biggest benefits of
3:52 shooting with strobes is that you get a
3:53 lot of output for a relatively
3:55 affordable price this output is really
3:57 important for a lot of things for
3:58 example overpowering ambient light or
4:01 achieving a lot of depth of field so if
4:03 you for example shoot groups of people
4:05 you'll likely need to shoot at f11 maybe
4:07 even F-16 and strobes give you enough
4:09 output to do so if you're shooting maybe
4:12 in a really bright Studio like a lot of
4:13 window light the strobes are going to
4:16 have enough power to overpower this
4:17 window light so it doesn't affect your
4:19 image doesn't affect your exposure both
4:21 of these things are much much harder to
4:24 do with continuous lights and in order
4:25 to do it you probably need much more
4:28 expensive options freeze motion strobes
4:29 fire only for a fraction of a second
4:31 often one one thousandths of a second
4:33 even faster depending on the light this
4:35 makes it absolutely ideal for freezing
4:37 motion so if you have moving hair a
4:39 jumping subject a dancer this is all
4:41 going to be frozen in place with that
4:43 Split Second of a flash also you don't
4:44 have to worry about your camera shake or
4:46 motion blur unless there's maybe too
4:48 much ambient light in the room modifiers
4:51 this is one of the big benefits of
4:52 strobe for a very long time because
4:54 there's tons and tons and tons of
4:56 different modifiers for strokes you name
4:58 it it exists and also it exists in all
4:59 different sorts of mounts you get Beauty
5:01 dishes and soft boxes and
5:03 umbrellas and so much more but I do want
5:04 to note that in the past continuous
5:06 lights had hardly any modifiers because
5:09 they're more like movie lights and they
5:11 were very hot so it made it hard to
5:13 attach the modifiers but now the LEDs
5:15 are cool and so there's far more many
5:17 modifiers available so in the past
5:19 strobes had more and they probably have
5:20 some more modifiers still but continuous
5:22 lights they're catching up plus a lot of
5:24 continuous lights they have Bowens Mount
5:27 which makes this really easy to mix and
5:29 match a lot of different modifiers one
5:31 of the biggest downsides of strobes is
5:33 that as a content creator they cannot be
5:36 used to light video many of my most
5:37 recent commercial shoots or beauty
5:39 campaigns that I've done they've
5:40 required that I shoot Stills in motion
5:42 at the same time I wouldn't have time to
5:44 switch over between the two plus I want
5:46 them to look the same and so if video is
5:48 an important part of what you do or
5:49 maybe you're thinking about venturing
5:51 into video strobes are just not going to
5:53 be a good fit if you are new to shooting
5:55 with strobes exposure is very confusing
5:57 for example your shutter speed does not
6:00 affect strobe exposure at all you just
6:01 have to make sure your under your sink
6:03 speed and also when you're changing your
6:05 exposure you can't preview in the back
6:06 of your camera it doesn't look it
6:07 doesn't look like that doesn't work like
6:11 that so it is a learning curve but as
6:12 mentioned I've got some links in the
6:13 description below to help you out with
6:15 that all right so I've mentioned the
6:17 lack of video capabilities and the
6:18 learning curve for exposure these are
6:20 two major difficulties but there are
6:22 some other considerations so for example
6:24 with strobes you have to buy triggers to
6:25 fire the strobes it's another thing to
6:28 purchase also sometimes if you're in low
6:30 light situations like on location and
6:32 you want to balance the strobes with the
6:34 ambient light it's really difficult to
6:36 turn them down to low enough power now
6:37 if you're mainly a studio shooter that's
6:39 probably not something you have to think
6:41 about alright so now we're going on to
6:43 take a look at continuous lights we've
6:45 already talked about video and the fact
6:47 that this is one place that continuous
6:49 lights really shine with social
6:51 platforms favoring video we've all
6:53 become so acutely aware of the
6:55 importance of creating motion content
6:57 furthermore many of my clients they love
6:59 the flexibility to be able to capture
7:01 Stills and motion at the same time and
7:03 so continuous lights are perfect for
7:05 this this is the only way to go if this
7:06 is important to you because they stay on
7:08 continuously with no pulse of light
7:11 certain continuous LEDs allow you to
7:12 change the color temperature of the
7:15 light this is referred to as bi-color so
7:16 what you can do is you can change the
7:18 color from tungsten to Daylight and
7:19 everything in between with an exact
7:21 Kelvin temperature this is great because
7:23 you can balance it with other lights in
7:25 the room or maybe bounce it with the
7:26 ambient light and you can do so
7:28 precisely some continuous lights allow
7:30 you to dial in the exact Hue and
7:32 saturation of the light you don't need
7:34 gels and you can get the color exactly
7:36 how you want it so for example I've been
7:38 using the Nan light pavotubes a lot in
7:39 my creative work because I love the
7:41 color control that they allow as I
7:43 mentioned before with continuous lights
7:46 exposure is so simple it's as simple as
7:47 looking at the back of your viewfinder
7:49 so what you see is what you get which is
7:50 the same ways you would shoot with
7:52 natural light there's just no learning
7:54 curve output is the really big downside
7:55 of shooting with continuous lights
7:56 they're a lot less powerful when
7:58 compared to their strobe counterparts
8:00 and by the way let me just tell you
8:02 about something kind of confusing 200
8:04 watt continuous light does not have the
8:05 same power output as a 200 watt second
8:08 strobe it has to do with sciency things
8:10 of how they measure it but basically the
8:12 200 watt strobe is so much much much
8:14 more powerful than the continuous 200
8:17 watt so to get extremely powerful
8:19 continuous lights you have to spend more
8:21 money or maybe get into hmis it's going
8:23 to be much harder therefore to for
8:25 example overpower ambient light in the
8:26 room or if you want to shoot with a lot
8:28 of depth of field you definitely need
8:30 more power which means more expensive
8:32 lights so speaking of ambient light this
8:33 is definitely another potential downside
8:35 of shooting with continuous lights it's
8:37 because you have to be aware of any
8:39 ambient light in your space because it's
8:40 going to affect your exposure and image
8:43 so overhead lights that will affect it
8:45 window light nearby a lamp in the corner
8:47 all of this is going to show up now that
8:48 being said you can turn this into a
8:50 benefit into a positive when you take
8:51 continuous lights on location because
8:53 you can then purposely try to integrate
8:55 The Continuous lights with the ambient
8:58 they'll work together more seamlessly
8:59 all right so in order to freeze action
9:01 with continuous lights you have to use a
9:02 faster shutter speed and of course this
9:04 is possible but you have to consider
9:06 your camera settings so I've already
9:07 mentioned that with many continuous
9:09 lights especially the affordable ones
9:12 they have less output and so in order to
9:13 achieve a faster shutter speed you will
9:14 probably end up shooting at really wide
9:18 apertures or really high isos this also
9:19 may be possible because a lot of our
9:21 cameras can shoot at higher ISO
9:23 capabilities or you'll have to spend
9:25 more money for the higher output
9:27 continuous light so you have options but
9:29 it is more difficult now on a similar
9:31 note you have to pay attention to camera
9:33 shake and potential motion blur when
9:35 shooting with continuous lights for
9:36 example you have to pay attention to if
9:37 your subject's moving too fast or maybe
9:39 your shutter speed's a little bit too
9:41 long or maybe if the way you're holding
9:43 your cameras a bit unstable you're much
9:45 more likely to get soft images due to
9:46 shake if you're shooting with continuous
9:48 lights wear strobes they're going to be
9:50 much sharper it allows you to freeze any
9:52 motion into place alright so we have
9:54 looked at the pros and cons of both
9:55 strobes and continuous lights and the
9:57 question is which one is better
9:59 and the thing is there is no such thing
10:01 as better honestly it depends on which
10:02 is right for you and your shooting needs
10:04 for example I shoot with Pro Photo d2s
10:06 all the time but then I'll also grab my
10:08 nan light 720bs for commercial work it's
10:10 not about what is better it's about
10:12 which is better for the needs of what
10:15 I'm creating so to simplify this if you
10:17 need more output like a lot of depth of
10:19 field you need to freeze action strobes
10:21 are probably the right choice so for
10:23 example if you shoot groups or maybe you
10:25 have to overpower ambient light
10:27 regularly then strobes are the right way
10:28 to go for sure but if you need video
10:30 capability or maybe you like the
10:32 Simplicity of just seeing the light then
10:33 continuous light is going to be a great
10:35 fit for you I hope this has helped you
10:36 to navigate the difference between
10:38 continuous lights and strobes remember
10:40 light is light you can make beautiful
10:41 images with either of these but you have
10:44 to know how you shoot what you shoot and
10:45 what tools what techniques what
10:48 capabilities service your needs as a
10:49 photographer all right guys if you want
10:50 to see some of the gear that I
10:51 referenced in this video be sure to
10:52 check out the links in the description
10:54 below and of course if you want to pick
10:56 up some gears visit adorama.com thanks
10:58 everybody and see next time [Music]
