Video RGB LED lights for still macro photography?

Part of the reason for using flash when shooting macro of living things like insects is that the flash duration is very short which freezes subject and camera motion, increasing sharpness. Your settings like low ISO, small aperture and fast sync speed block out natural light meaning the fast flash provides almost all of the light.

Video lights are both much weaker than a flash and also lack the motion stopping ability.

This is why xenon flashes are used for insect macro.

Higher end macro flashes have modelling lights, my MT-26EX does. Generally you don't need them that much unless you are using a manual aperture lens where you cant compose wide open and you need them for focus assist. You can always have a portable light for modelling (really just for focus assist as you are not going to be really 'modelling' light on an 10mm insect live in the field.)

I have not tried them, because the biggest loss of quality in macro is down to slow light and camera shake there's literally no point, they are not going to give me enough light to shoot at f/13 (f/26 at 2x) ISO 100 and they are not going give me the quality I want because they are too slow.

The sync speed doesn't really matter, your flash at low power fires at much faster speed than shutter speed, this is also why we move the the flash nearer the subject (which also gives the benefit, you can sync at 1/125 to get some background light back in unless your subject moves too much, but really you want the light to all come from the flash. There's a balance that you need to work around.

But flashes bare are harsh yeah, which is why constructing a diffuser setup that works for you is ones the biggest part of macro photography of live subjects, you'll often see that the longer, most useful discussions on macro boards is about how to diffuse light, or more importantly reduce specular highlights, generally subject size to light source size is good meaning they are soft, they just have harsh speculars which are bad for detail as well. There are also a lot of misunderstandings and older wives tails type advice about using some household materials which tend to not be that good in that they block more light than is ideal, but obviously you need to use what works for you.

It's not easy but this is macro photography, high quality images of alive/active small insects is very demanding on the photographer.

If there were some LEDs arrays capable of firing full spectrum light as fast and as brightly as Xenon I would jump to them immediately because an array of LEDs would reduce specular a lot. But unfortunately LEDs are not quite there yet in a commercial setting, although I do keep my eye on them.

Here's some of my work using flashes, more at my flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/aveslux/

https://flic.kr/p/2mDfC41

https://flic.kr/p/2mdvYZR

I have two small LED units that I've used for macro photographs -- they work well and provide good color rendition (they're 6000K). I like them for flowers, buds, dead insects; but they just can't stop active subjects so for those I use flash.

jarlrmai wrote:

https://flic.kr/p/2mDfC41

https://flic.kr/p/2mdvYZR

You illustrate your point well, with some pretty nice light.

As others have said you need some stopping power to shoot active critters and/or to shoot hand held.

Tech Specs: Canon 90D (F11, 1/125, ISO 200) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (set to about 1.5x) + a diffused MT-26EX-RT, E-TTL metering, -2/3 FEC. This is a single, cropped, frame taken hand held. In post I used Topaz Denoise AI and Clarity in that order. Shutter and ISO set to expose the sky in the background.

As for diffusion I think that just about any light source is gonna require some diffusion to make it look good, even those LED video lights. How well the light is diffused, and the angle between the light and the subject, will determine how much texture detail you can pick up. I use an MT26 EX RT with the flash heads in a key (one at the top of the lens) and fill (one off to the side at 90 degrees to the key) because it gives me a lot of control over the highlights and shadows. Also since the light partially wraps around the subject (it's not dead even) I get images that look 3D, and due to the angle and diffusion I can pick up a lot of texture detail.

Tech Specs: Canon 90D (F11, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (set to 2x) + a diffused MT-26EX-RT, E-TTL metering, -2/3 FEC. This is a single frame taken hand held. In post I used Topaz Denoise AI and Clarity in that order.

For tripod macro of motionless subjects you can use any light source. But the odds that you'll be able to use that light out of the box with no modification, and get good results, are pretty low.

Rod McD wrote:

Hi,

A question please...... I've seen retail ads for cheap small rechargeable LED video lights with variable color temperature. About the same size as a phone. The output looks high and the variable color temperature would be a benefit. They appear to me to be potentially good, portable, even lighting for macro for stills in the field - at least at first glance.... but I don't do video at all and know little about them.

Is this in fact the case? I know that LED lights pulse - you can see it with LED head torches when you move a hand rapidly in the beam. Do these video lights work for stills when camera shutter speeds are just a fraction of a second? Or do they impose limitations on shutter speed? And therefore on shooting living/moving subjects? Anyone tried them for still macro images? Any good?

Many thanks.

Rod

Yes - the small LEDs cubes & panels seem preferable for macro still life by far,

In reviewing many macro still life photography sites and vids , esp. the toy - sci fi genre,

this LumeCube brand is very popular and the LED panels are adjustable and very bright.

I plan to get the pro kit and an assortment of panels come NOV, after a few years with DIY and smaller figure s- I'm ready to graduate to LumeCube and a few Star Wars figures with more complex set ups.

Check YouTube - there are some really nice lighting schemes and I think they would work wonders in the terrarium setting too - with a rail for a vid shoot.

I have used single LED diffused coils but the Lume Cubes , matrix LED always seems to cast a better light for still life and their small size & shutter flaps allows far more precise allows of light paths for a still life set.

Here are some examples of my direct light / flash problems

Worked ok - but not cinematic at all, compare this vibe to the LED panels on a simple black surface:

> harsh

Pretty sure this is flash below - rogue Bruin fab,

I found its very hard to create the " London fog vibe" or a memorable lighting scheme with human sized lighting - it has to be reduced to scale or very modified with diffusers and gobos etc for great still life.

blown out city

This is diffused Sun from the window - stil harsh and lacks the Jurassic Pork feel:

better but still way harsh - I think the dual LumeCube LED panels would eat subjects like this for breakfast.

The dinosaur action photography is another genre of toy shooting - some unbelievable shots out there - including self made mass extinction events.

So in summary use the right tool for the right job and IMHO for still life macro - a smaller lighting set up with the more flexibility in luminosity, colors and placement

is the RX required,

May the photons be with you.

Lume Cube lights & LED Panels:

https://lumecube.com/collections/dslr-photo-video

Jared Middleton on Toy Photography Lighting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFkqe_K59JM&t=799s

Here is another guy with much to say on still life lighting

Adam savage Tested

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYb84RjpudE

I actually use a combination of Video light and a flash at 1/16 varipower diffused

It provides a less harsh light than a flash that needs diffusing as say The video light does not have enough power to give 1/250 at f11 and low ISO. To do that you will need to use at least ISO 3200. I use my combination at about 1/200 f11 and ISO 200-400 with a 100 EF macro at 1:1 I also use a MPE65 from x1 to x2

So far I have used it only with still life

It is not shadowless, but the video

light softens the harshness of the flash