toptrainer Loc: Wellington

I have done some headshots the other day at a firm to update their web sites, now they want to do some full body advertising shots. What is better for that, Flash or continual light. I want to shoot with a completely white backdrop.

photoninja1 Loc: Tampa Florida

Continuous (hot lights) are easy to use, because what you see is what ou get. But they are hard to carry around. Flash is easily portable, but you have to know what you're doing to get good photos. Since you have to ask the question, I guess you are somewhat inexperienced, so I'd recommend LED panels. A little more expensive than tungsten lights, but the quality of the light is better and you still get the wysiwyg presentation. I wouldn't jump on a job with flash units unless I was experienced in their use.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Full body is no different in concept than a head shot.

If you've used speedlights up until now...why switch? If you've used continuous for the head shots...go that direction.

The concept is the same as a head shot: Direction of light, percentage of light contribution from fill to key...etc.

If they are looking for full body shots...use a large modifier to get more even light from top to bottom without hot spots.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

With ANY light you have to know what you are doing.
If you want a white background you will have to light the background separately from the subject and overexpose the white background by 1-2 stops from an incident reading to make sure you get white.
I wouldn't do this with LED panels....just not enough power.

JR1 posted this in another thread:
http://www.robandrewphoto.com/blog/tech/taking-pictures-on-a-white-background

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

I was the subject/target for an in-store demo of a couple models of LED panels a few weeks ago. I've done some performing under theater lights (always as an extra) and had my picture taken in portrait studios (I "apprenticed" for a photographer years age and he had me just sit while he tried out new lighting setups). The LED panels were the worst experience I've had with lights. The nice thing is they are not hot, but the mirrored panels were painfully bright. I could not stand to look at them for more than a few seconds without getting a headache. I love the effects they render, but would not consider using them on people or animals in anything other than instantaneous mode. Unfortunately, they seem to work poorly in flash mode because they take too much time to light up. The store where I saw them demonstrated used a floor switch with which they turned on the panels a second or so before the shutter release and immediately turned them off. I have heard that there are LED flashes, but that they were expensive.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Very good point that should be emphasized!

marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

I'm not sure why they would put you in front of bare LED panels. Like any other light they need to be in a soft box to give a pleasing portrait light. TV stations are starting to use them now and they also don't realize this for some reason. A local station here started using LED and I knew immediately when they did because they have a very directional stark monster movie look - I suspect because they aren't locating them correctly nor using soft boxes.

Watch national news TV interviews with, let's say, the President or any dignitary , and you'll will see three diffused LED panels being used with two up high and one lower power one to the face on stands - and with very impressive natural results.