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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 unless you supply your own as a name brand like SmallRig.*** | | ***PLEASE READ: this guide does not cover how to configure lights like LED video lights from companies like SmallRig, Genaray, Meiki (and others); my goal with this guide is to provide a low-cost solution that outperforms 5V LED panels that are too dim to work effectively. While quality video LEDs are much better, these can easily cost ~$60 or more and some require a dedicated light stand (~$20-38). ''While some of these work out to be cheaper upfront if you supply your own power adapter, the cost will add up if you need to buy an adapter as well as the light.''***[br] | | ***''UNLESS you score a deal on these panel lights from a photo studio, eBay (or a classified site), the cost to set these up tends to be significantly more expensive. As such, this guide uses a different tradeoff where 2 >90 CRI LED bulbs are used in place of panel lights. The downside is these are not as good, but the setup is much cheaper.''*** | | | ***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 95well, 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.''*** | | ***''WHAT IS THE CATCH? The catch is while this method is cheaper, the performance is nowhere near as good as a 12-18V studio panel LED, particularly in light spread or CRI if you pick up a set of bulbs from a big box store. The reason for this is the common minimum CRI for these panel lights is 95+ CRI, even at the $25-30 supply your own power supply price. You likely will not attain this with household LED bulbs, even at 5000k.''*** | | | ***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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