Best Indoor Lighting Settings for Photography

best indoor lighting for photography

Looking for the best indoor lighting for photography can be a struggle. Photography is a way to manipulate light, after all. You need to use indoor lighting to get the best photography result and you can start by understanding lighting in photography.

Studio Lights vs Speedlight

First things first, you need to understand the differences between studio lights and Speedlight to understand more about indoor lighting for photography. More lighting kits might be used for indoor photography, especially the studio-based one. You do not need to worry about the power source because indoor photography will always be close to an electrical outlet.

For on-site photography, a Speedlight or flash is often considered the best option for photography lighting because it can offer portability. Nevertheless, it does not mean that this lighting option can be used for on-site photography only. It can also do much of studio strobes’ work as it comes with an off-camera wireless flash system.

Since the Speedlight is portable and can be mounted on the camera, this lighting is used a lot for weddings and sports photography. However, this lighting type will not reach as far as light stands or studio lights. It also produces light that is not as strong as the studio lights. It needs more time to be ready for the next light flash.

You can also find studio lights that usually come in a larger size. However, you can carry them on site because they come with battery packs. This type of light will offer a solution to the drawbacks of the Speedlight. Studio light or continuous light comes with more power. The recycle times are faster than the speed light as well.

Continuous Lighting vs Strobe Lighting

Since you need to find the best lighting option for indoor photography, you might choose the studio lights more. After choosing the studio lights, you still have to make another decision whether you have to choose continuous lighting or strobe lighting.

Let’s talk about the strobe light first. This type of studio light comes with a traditional camera flash that has a quick burst of light. That is why this studio light can be more powerful than the continuous one. A subtle difference can be found in the eyes of the subject when you use strobe lighting for portrait photography. The burst light will not make pupils larger. As a result, more of the iris color can be seen in the image.

As for the continuous lights, you can tell that the flash will be on all the time. It makes this lighting type less powerful than the strobe one. However, many people use this lighting type often because of its affordable price. It is also a must for shooting videos.

Many beginners in indoor photography also find that it is easier to work with continuous lights. This lighting type allows them to see the light in real-time. They do not have to adjust the light, take a picture with flash, and adjust it one more time if they find the result is not good enough. Continuous light is a pretty popular photography product. Nevertheless, you can also find strobe light products which come with continuous mode after all.

It is essential to pay attention to the lighting for indoor photography to deliver the best image result. You might be able to use photo editing services. You can have much better photo results with the right lighting techniques delivered by the photo editing services.

Light Strength

When choosing the lighting for indoor photography, you also have to consider the light strength. Various strengths are offered for Speedlight, continuous light, and strobe light. The light strength will be measured in watts and it will determine the amount of light and the distance the light can reach if you use Speedlight.

How much light do you need to get the best photo result? The answer might be different for the object of your photos. You can use the strongest light to take a picture using a telephoto lens, for instance. It will also be beneficial for a large group photo. In this circumstance, lights with more than 600 watts per second can be chosen for those tasks.

It does not mean that stronger light will always be a better choice. Using strong light means that you are using hard light. It will also come with harsh shadows. If you want to get photo results with soft light and take a picture using a light modifier, you might not need to spend extra cost on buying a powerful light.

Modifiers

You will not just end with the choice of the best indoor lighting for photography. You will also need modifiers to open more possibilities when taking a picture and you can find several types of modifiers. Of course, you do not need to invest in every single modifier type.

The first modifier you might want to buy is a diffuser or softbox. You can soften powerful light with this modifier. You will get a more gradual transition from the light area to the dark area of your image. You can take a photo without the clear flash look using this method. Nevertheless, you can still make a catchlight. You can also prevent other problems, including silhouette.

Umbrella is another modifier you can use that will give a similar result to the softbox look. The reflective umbrella will point the light away from your photo subject. It will give a more concentrated beam of light back to the photo subject.

If you take a photo of a fashion portrait often, a beauty fish can be a modifier for you because it can deliver more vibrant light than the softbox. There will not be any extreme and hard shadows produced by this modifier.

You can also consider other modifiers, such as barn doors, gels, or grids and snoots.

Are You Still Confused about Photography Lighting?

Do you think that photography lighting is too complicated to apply? If you want to get the best photo result, you cannot ignore the lighting aspect.

However, if you are troubled with indoor photography lighting, Dropicts can offer the help you need. You can check out Dropicts to find further information about our available services. Whether you use the best indoor lighting for photography or not, our photography service will always be able to edit and correct your photos and deliver the best results.

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