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Introduction |
***PLEASE READ: this guide does not cover all possible lighting scenarios, including how to properly setup quality panel lighting (SmallRig, Genaray, Meiki, others); my goal with this guide is to provide a solution that outperforms the common 5V panel LEDs that are too dim to be effective. The reason for this is UNLESS YOU GET A DEAL ON THESE PANELS YOU WILL EASILY SPEND ~$50-60+ EACH, IN ADDITION TO LIGHT STANDS (~$39+). You can sometimes get them for a lot less if the power adapter is not included and you have one that works but this generally brings you to a similar cost in many cases unless you supply your own as a name brand like SmallRig.***
***SOFTWARE WARNING: The software portion will likely age faster than this guide due to the nature of what software *''IS''*. If there is a version upgrade, there may be price and screenshot discrepancies. If there are major changes, I do my best to keep up with this but I can only do so much.*** | | | In short: unless you get a very, very good deal on surplus lights used from a clearing house or photo/video studio on a site like eBay or Craigslist, you will be spending a lot more for lighting. Unless you can justify this, the cost can be high for occasional use. ***''To reduce cost, this guide uses a different tradeoff: Instead of multiple weak LED panels that are ineffective, 2 strong >90 CRI LED (ideally) lightbulbs are used. While far from perfect this is still significantly better.''*** | | ***''BEAR IN MIND THESE WILL NEVER OUTPERFORM PROPER STUDIO LIGHTS that operate at 12-18V+ (or spread light as effectively), even cheap $25-30 ones from Amazon which are not as good as a name brand like SmallRig. These studio lights also tend to be 95+CRI as well95well, which your lightbulbs likely are not; however, a good set of 5000k LED bulbs should be nearly as good with some cues for those who know what to look for.''*** | | | ***Note: This guide does not cover basic photography techniques due to limitations the author has to deal with as there are already excellent resources. For this, refer to the following guides:*** | | | * ***[guide|38496|How to Take Awesome Photos|new_window=true]*** | | * ***[guide|95223|How to Take Awesome Smartphone Photos|new_window=true]*** | | * ***[guide|38497|How to Post-Process Pictures|new_window=true]*** | | * ***[link|https://about.ifixit.com/c/Photography|iFixit About|new_window=true]*** |
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