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How to combine strobes and LED lights for captivating sports portraits

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Light painting can be a lot of fun, and it’s even more fun when you combine it with regular old flash to create dynamic and interesting images. Portraits, particularly of athletes or dancers can provide the perfect subject for experimenting with this technique as it appears to show movement in a still image, which is what sport and dance are all about really.

In the video below, photographer Bee Trofort shows us how she captured these intriguing images of an athlete using a combination of Spiffy Gear’s innovative wrist wrap light bracelets, the KYU-6.

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This is the world’s brightest DIY LED flashlight at over 1.4 million lumens

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Last week, we showed you the most powerful commercially available LED flashlight that’s around today projecting the bat signal onto clouds. It’s the Imalent MS18, boasting a very impressive 100,000 lumens. But for the folks at Hacksmith Industries, this just wasn’t enough. So, they decided to build their own LED flashlight, which puts out a ridiculous 1,414,224 lumens.

They actually have the Imalent MS18 in their video to be able to compare it side-by-side with a regular standard household flashlight you might find in a local store, as well as to their DIY monster of a light that actually melted the device designed to help them detect light output.

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Here is the world’s most powerful video LED blowing up a power supply

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LEDs are getting more capable and more powerful every year. And this one claims to have the crown at the moment as the world’s most powerful COB LED designed specifically for video use. It costs an insane $1,350, requires 1500 Watts of power, it’s 5600K daylight and has a CRI of 95+. As an LED addict, Matt at DIY Perks managed to get his hands on one to test, but in doing so, he blew up two power supplies.

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This brain-melting video explains why our cameras see in RGB – just like our eyes

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When we’re kids, in school, we’re taught that the primary colours are red, yellow and blue. But this isn’t entirely accurate when it comes to light. Pure white sunlight is made up of a whole spectrum of colours, with the primaries actually being red, green and blue. Our cameras with Bayer filter arrays on the sensor see RGB. Our monitors also display RGB.

But have you ever wondered how we’re able to get so many different colours from just three? And why just blasting red, green and blue LEDs at an object doesn’t always give you true white light? This fascinating video from Technology Connections isn’t really specific to photography, but light in general, and how red, green and blue affects our (and our camera’s) perception of colour.

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Godox expands their range of video lights with four new high CRI flexible LED panels

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While we all know Godox for their strobes and speedlights, Godox has also been making LED video lights for quite a while now. Until lately, though, they weren’t really all that good. That’s changed recently, though, as Godox has started to get more serious about their video-shooting customers.

The Godox SL series, and in particular the SL60 have proven very popular. But now Godox is starting to focus more on versatility, with a new range of flexible LED lights offering a CRI of 96, stepless power output and remote control through a standard remote or the Godox smartphone app.

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This photographer designed and 3D-printed his own dimmable LED softbox

Availability of 3D printers has opened new possibilities for creating all sorts of gadgets for photography. So, New Zealand-based photographer Nicholas Sherlock took advantage of his 3D printer to make himself an LED softbox. He designed it, printed and assembled it himself. It features a 3D-printed diffuser, honeycomb light shaper, and even rails on the bottom for adding mounts and accessories.

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The LitraPro is the world’s first full spectrum bi-colour action light

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Just after we got done comparing the LitraTorch vs the Lume Cube, Litra announces their next generation of LED action light. The new LitraPro offers the same rugged build as the Torch but raises the bar with full spectrum bi-colour LEDs.

Litra is calling the new LitraPro a “new category of compact, rugged, professional lighting” and it does seem to fit the bill. It sits in size between the tiniest of tiny action camera lights and small on-camera LED lights like the Aputure AL-M9. But how its light output will compare is currently unknown.

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Westcott’s new portable LED makes using modifiers easy

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The development of LED lights over the last couple of years has been quite interesting to follow. 10 years ago, LEDs were the last type of light I’d use for any kind of serious video work, but since then they’ve come a very long way. They’ve become more consistent and colour accurate with high CRI & TLCI, more powerful, and more versatile.

Westcott’s new Solix LED light, though, has a particularly unique feature. An integrated speedring for connecting directly into softboxes. It’s an interesting design that allows the light to keep a small form factor while still offering the use of modifiers.

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This is what the light from a 500W, $500 LED looks like

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LEDs are developing at a ridiculous pace lately. They’re getting more colour accurate and much more powerful. The power of LEDs often comes at some expense, though. While LEDs do run much cooler than traditional tungsten lights, they can still get rather hot.

In this video, Matthew at DIY Perks unboxes a very beefy 500 Watt LED. After hooking up the power, we see just how bright it is. What’s particularly crazy about it, though, is that the LED itself isn’t much bigger than a postage stamp. Everything else is just to extract the heat to prevent the LED from burning itself out.

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The LitraTorch is a powerful versatile and waterproof LED light that fits in your pocket

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The LitraTorch smashed its Kickstarter goal when the project was running, raising over $100,000. Their goal was a mere $25K. Well, now, all the backers have been shipped their lights and they’re now available for the rest of us to buy

It’s a 1.5″ cube that provides up to 800 lumens of continuous light at a daylight balanced 5700K. It’s flicker free, has a smooth light pattern, lithium ion rechargeable battery and micro USB port with a touch aluminium body. It has a pair of 1/4-20″ tripod sockets, magnet, GoPro mount, and it’s waterproof.

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