There are many genres of photography to explore in the world. Traditional genres such as portraiture, landscape, still life, and macro photography all follow a basic set of rules and principles that must be adhered to for technically proficient results.

There are some photographic genres that defy the static rules of photography. Light painting is just such a genre!

The world of close up photography is something that I had always wanted to explore. The semi surreal kind of shots that you can get with a macro lens or by adding extension tubes can be quite beautiful. As with anything else you photograph, light is an important element to consider. If your ambition is to create clean and well lit product photos (perhaps for selling products on a website) you don’t necessarily need to invest in a strobe system for this purpose.  To understand how you can achieve great results with a very simple setup, we need to remind ourselves of a simple concept in lighting that is relevant.  The concept is the difference between hard and soft light.  

If you’ve been following this blog then you know that my favourite lighting tools are studio strobes for most everything I like to photograph.  The control of light, the power, the recycle time and great selection of lighting modifiers are all great reasons to love these lights. The term ‘studio strobes’ comes from the typical type of use these lights see – specifically, indoor use.  But as we gaze with hope at our calendars, we begin to dream once again about glorious spring and summer weather.  Our opportunity to get outdoors once again is almost here.  

* PLEASE NOTE: Some of the images contained in this blog were taken during Jen Rozenbaum‘s Boudoir workshop in Toronto and may contain material some might consider unsuitable for certain work environments *

When I first began shooting in a studio setting about ten years ago, I started with what are commonly called ‘hot’ lights.  Units like the Tota, Rifa and Redhead were all part of my kit. These lights were called ‘hot’ lights because they drew huge amounts of power to drive 500 watt (or higher) tungsten light tubes and generated tremendous heat.  You couldn’t plug these into a simple electrical outlet, you needed to find something with increased amperage tolerance so as not to blow a fuse or trip a circuit breaker.  Fast forward to present day and you’ll find that continuous light sources have really evolved.