Create Your Own Professional Photography Lighting Setup With LED Shop Lights
Professional photography studio lighting can cost a lot of money, but if you’re just starting out, you don’t need to spend that much money (if you even have it to start with). In this video, photographer Joe Edelman shows you how to build an all-LED rig on a budget that will perform in the same way as more expensive equipment.
We need to make it clear that “budget constraints” are really a matter of hundreds of dollars compared to the usual thousands you can spend on lighting and equipment to create a quality photo or video system. If you are an amateur or even YouTube photographer and need some decent equipment for the job, you can take Edelman’s lesson and save some money. The basic setup is a four point lighting system very similar to the one we discussed earlier here . It focuses on LEDs because they are more affordable, last longer and are lightweight, not to mention they don’t get hot like other lighting fixtures.
In terms of components, it uses some basic LED shop lighting that has two strips of high-power LED flashlights with a brightness of 4,500 lumens, rated to last around 45,000 hours and a color temperature of 5,000 Kelvin. They are durable enough to travel with you and quiet enough for filming. However, they are not dimmable, which should be borne in mind. All in all, this is a pretty good deal – that is, once you set them up and Edelman walks you through the parts to do just that in the video. For a complete assembly and step-by-step setup guide, click the play button above, or watch the full video (and get links to all the components and parts you need to install and hang them) from the link below.
DIY LED Studio Lights for Portraits and Headshots | Joe Edelman (YouTube)