What Are Types of Lighting Equipment?

Photographers use continuous lighting equipment and strobe or flash lighting equipment in their studios and on location.

Both of these types of lights are available in many forms including portable options that are lightweight and easy to set up, take down and transport.

In addition to lighting equipment, photographers use light modifiers to diffuse, alter and shape light to improve their pictures or produce creative effects.

This guide to types of lighting equipment explains your options and the purpose of each lighting type. Modifiers and the purpose of each are discussed as well along with essential stands and supports, light trigger devices, light meters and accessory equipment every photographer needs to get the best use from their gear.

Types of Lights

Photographers use many types of lights in their studio and on-location shoots. The three main categories of photography lighting are continuous lighting and strobe lighting used in a studio setup and portable lighting, either continuous lighting or strobe lighting, which is easily taken out of the studio to a photoshoot location.

1. Continuous lighting is lighting that stays on without interruption or flash. The advantages include being able to see what effect the lighting has on the subject before taking your shot. This enables you to move the lighting or change the pose of the subject to produce the ideal lighting effect for each shot you want.

Continuous lighting is used as the key light and as accessory lighting.

2. Strobe lights are artificial lighting that flash intensely for a very short period of time, giving a bright burst of light.  Most flash just once – they do not flash on and off continuously. In other words, strobe lights are a type of flash lighting.

The purposes of strobe lighting are to freeze motion when the subject is moving and to provide a burst of very bright light to illuminate the subject in low-light or dark conditions.

3. Portable lighting can be continuous lighting or strobe/flash lighting. The key feature of portable lights is that they are lightweight and easily carried with you outside the studio. It should be noted, of course, that portable lighting is often used inside the studio too.

1. Continuous Lights

Continuous lighting stays on to illuminate the scene. Key lights, or the main or sole light used for a photo, can be continuous lighting. Support lighting, placed in various locations to provide extra lighting, can also be continuous.

Here are the main types of continuous lights:

• LED lighting can be in the form of panels or spotlights. Advantages of LED lighting include availability in a range of color temperatures from 2,500 to 6,500 Kelvins, various sizes are made, and they provide consistent light that can be adjusted and moved to provide the exact lighting desired for each shot. They are very versatile.
• Tungsten incandescent lights have a color temperature of 2,500 to 3,200, warm yellow or soft white. Their effect is warm and comfortable, ideal for portrait photography, fashion photography and other studio photography when a classic look is wanted.
• Fluorescent lights range from 4,000 to 5,000K. This color temperature is ideal for product photography, but also useful for portrait photography, food photography, closeups and more when a clean, somewhat clinical appearance is desired.
• Quartz lights, with a color temperature of 3,200K, provide warm lighting for portrait photography, fashion photography, boudoir photography and more.
• HMI and Plasma lights mimic natural daylight with a color temperature of 5,500 to 6,500. They have a cool blue hue and a long reach or throw. 

2. Strobes

Strobes produce very bright light – light so bright it would cause the subjects to squint if used continuously.

Strobe lighting includes:

• Studio strobe lights are vital studio lighting for portrait, product and fashion photography. They can be monolights but often have multiple heads, each with their own power supply and adjustable power settings and can be controlled independently and remotely. The standard 5,600K mimics daylight, though some have adjustable color temperature.
• Monolights are a self-contained, single-head studio strobe light that includes a power source in the flash head. With a color temperature of around 5,500K, they are used in product and portrait photography.
• Speedlights are flashes that attach to the camera’s hot shoe, aka hot shoe flashes. Powered by batteries, they are powerful and portable.
• Ring flashes are circular strobe lights that fit around the camera’s lens and eliminate shadow. Their daylight 5,600K is best for close up portrait photography, macro and fashion photography.
• Pack and head systems are a type of studio strobe with separate flash and battery pack units, making them more portable. Multiple heads can be powered by a single pack.

3. Portable Lights

All main photography lighting types have portable versions. These include LED lights, speedlights, monolights and battery-powered strobe lights.  

There are key differences between portable lights and studio lights. Portable photography lights are lighter in weight. This also means that they are usually less powerful, smaller in size, have fewer features, and are powered by batteries or an AC adapter instead of standard AC power. However, they offer greater versatility.

4. Speedlights

Speedlights are also called hot shoe flashes because they fit in the hot shoe mount of your camera. This means that they flash when you depress the shutter release button. Outside the U.S., they are known as flash guns. The Canon versions are called speedlites.  

These portable flash units have a flash with a color temperature of around 5,600K, about the same as midday light, or are adjustable. They are light and compact, and they require batteries for power. Most cycle fast enough to work with burst shooting.

5. Ring Lights - Continuous

Ring lights are like ring flashes but are a type of continuous lighting. They fit around the lens of the camera to produce a constant light source that is soft and reduces or eliminates shadows in the image. Ring lighting has a Kelvin rating of 3,200, like Tungsten lighting, to 5,600, similar to many other flash and continuous lighting types.

Ring lights are activated with an on/off switch rather than the shutter release button. Some have a dimmer control to adjust the level of brightness. Some ring light models can be controlled with a remote or app.

6. Strip Lights

Strip lights are continuous lighting with a long, flat and narrow profile. They are available in various power levels and sizes. Strip lighting delivers a focused light, narrowed beam that is suitable as side lighting, backlighting, rim lighting and fill lighting. Or the beam can be focused to highlight a feature of the person or product being photographed. Mainly an accessory light, strip lights can be used as a key light in creative photography.

Studio strip lights are powered by an AC adapter; portable strip lights are usually battery powered.

7. Flashtubes

These flash units are long and narrow, filled with a noble gas like xenon or similar. Flashtubes are the core component of flash equipment including studio strobe lights, monolights and some speedlights. They produce a high-intensity flash, brighter than LED flashes, with a classic flash appearance. As a result, they are ideal for use in studio strobe lights and monolights.

8. Accent and Background Lights

These are not a specific type of lighting equipment. Instead, various lighting types can be used as accent and background lighting. These light types are used to add dimension and visual interest to a shot and can be used either to eliminate or create shadow.

Common accent and background lighting includes true background lights, spotlights, LED lights, rim lights, gobo lights, hair lights, fill lights and backlights.

Types of Modifiers

Light modifiers are used to affect light coming from the light source in various ways. The purpose of using a modifier is to enhance the images to improve general quality or to produce creative effects.

Modifier equipment like softboxes, reflectors, umbrellas, diffusion panels, gels and other diffusers soften light to remove harsh glare or stark contrast. This is also called filtering and scattering light. Reflected light is diffused too. Cloud cover is a type of natural light diffusion. The purpose of softening light is to prevent the subject from being washed out or the image overexposed. The result is a look that is more natural and gentle, and minor imperfections in the subject are not as visible in the photographs. In general, soft light is considered more flattering to the subject than hard light.

Other types of light modifiers shape light. Modifiers like grids, barn doors, snoots and gobos concentrate light or partially block light. They are used in various ways to highlight parts of the subject or scene or to diffuse some of the light to create a range of effects.

1. Softboxes

A softbox diffuses light with the use of a diffuser. The modifying material is often fabric, which mutes the light, softening it and evening it out to produce a more complimentary effect on the subject. The results include reducing shadows or softening their edges.

Softboxes are used with continuous lighting. They are produced in various sizes with different types and thicknesses of fabric to achieve a range of effects.

2. Umbrellas

Photography umbrellas are light modifiers shaped like rain umbrellas though not as curved. They are made of reflective or translucent material. Umbrellas diffuse and scatter the light source as it passes through them, if translucent, or reflects off them, if reflective, and onto the subject. Shadows are reduced or softened and light hitting the subject is more even.

Photography umbrellas are used with artificial lighting, both continuous lighting and flash or strobe lighting.

3. Reflectors

Photography light reflectors modify light by reflecting it in scattered form onto the subject. The result is softer light without harsh glare, reducing shadow or producing shadow with less contrast.

Reflectors are round, oval or rectangular with rounded corners. They are available in various sizes and in colors including white, gold, silver, black, green, blue and translucent. It is common for reflectors to offer three to seven colors in a single reflector frame, so that the color can be quickly changed between shots.

4. Light Tents

Light tents are enclosures that surround the subject on all sides or all but one side. They are also called light boxes. Most have a closable hole through which the photographer can shoot, or the photographer can take pictures from the open side.

Light tents are used to photograph small objects in product photography or macro photography. They typically have a white interior to provide a clean background and to diffuse and scatter the light to produce soft, even lighting for the shoot.

5. Diffusers

Light diffusers are any material or piece of equipment that scatters and softens the light. This reduces harsh shadows and glare. The diffused light is more flattering to most subjects, so diffusers are used in many types of photography including portrait, fashion, product, boudoir and newborn photography.

A single sheet of fabric placed between the light source and the subject is a simple diffuser. Softboxes, reflectors, light tents, light gels, umbrellas and beauty dishes are other common types of diffusers.

6. Grid Lights

Grid lights are lights covered with a grid modifier. The grid can be placed over LED panels and other continuous lighting or strobe lighting sources. Grids are made from fabric and hard materials such as plastic and metal.

The purpose of grid lights is to give you control over the direction of the light, focusing it on the subject or other part of the scene. The grid reduces light spill onto the background or surrounding area, meaning it prevents light from hitting areas you don’t want directly illuminated.  

7. Barn Doors

Barn doors are a piece of photography equipment with adjustable, closable flaps of opaque material. Most barn door types have four panels or doors, one on each side, top and bottom.

The doors or panels are individually adjusted to produce various lighting shapes and effects. The more closed the doors are, the more focused the light onto the subject.

8. Beauty Dish

A beauty dish is a highly reflective, curved dish that creates a circle of concentrated, soft light centered on the subject, which is different from the more diffused light created by a softbox, standard reflector or umbrella. A catchlight in the subject’s eyes is often produced.

A beauty dish is a light diffusion tool commonly used in fashion and portrait photography to highlight and flatter the subject.

9. Gels

Photography gels are sheets of translucent filter material placed over lights to soften them and diffuse the light. They also modify the color temperature of the light, usually making it warmer, to impact the mood of the shot.

Some gel sheets are colored for the purpose of changing the color of the light passing through. Gels are produced in various thicknesses for a range of diffusion effects and in many colors.

10. Snoots

A photography snoot is a light modifier used with continuous lighting or strobe lighting to produce high light/shadow contrast and dramatic effects like rim lighting. Shaped like a tube, a snoot concentrates the light into a narrow beam, reducing light spill into the rest of the scene. The light is aimed at a part of the subject or scene, highlighting hair, the face, or a small object, for example, while the rest of the scene is in shadow or minimal light.

Snoots are used in product, portrait, fashion and macro photography.

11. Gobos (Go-betweens)

A gobo or go-between light modifier is a template or stencil featuring a cutout of a design, pattern or logo. Gobos are placed in front of the light source to project the cut-out shape onto the subject, background or entire scene. Purposes include dramatic or creative effect and product marketing.

Gobos are made of various materials and sizes. Stock and custom designs are used.

Stands and Supports

Good lighting in the studio and on location requires sturdy light stands and supports for hanging and positioning the lights and directing them toward the subject and scene to be photographed.

The best lighting stands and supports feature a sturdy base, usually tripod style, a telescoping post with lock to raise or lower lights or move them closer to the subject, a light mounting head, and a carrying case.

Your light stand and support options are:

• Standard Light Stands: Basic light stands have a tripod base, single vertical pole and a mounting head. They are ideal for smaller, lightweight lights and are very portable.
• C-Stands: These are multipurpose, commercial-quality stands with a tripod base, sometimes with wheels. They have a heavy-gauge vertical pole and a top boom arm. The pole and arm are adjustable for custom positioning of lights. Sandbags or other counterweights are often used with C-stands. These lighting stands are suitable for heavier lights than standard stands but are not as portable.
• Heavy-Duty Stands: Commercial-grade heavy-duty stands hold heavy studio lights. Most have a tripod base, some with locking wheels and a light mount on a telescoping pole.
• Floor stands: These are basic lighting stands that sit on the floor. Most have square bases, though some have tripod bases. Floor stands have a light mount and telescoping, locking vertical pole. They are ideal for lightweight and medium-weight lights.
• Roller Stands: The main feature of roller lighting stands is a tripod base with wheels. Like most, roller stands have an adjustable, locking pole. They are strong enough for most studio lighting and are easy to roll around the studio.
• Boom Arms: These light stands have an adjustable top arm that can be extended outward or retracted, moving lighting toward or away from the subject and scene. They use sandbags and similar weights to secure the stand and prevent tipping.

Triggering and Control Devices

Studio lighting, both continuous lighting and strobe or flash lighting, is activated and controlled by devices that simplify the process, so that the photographer is able to focus on getting great pictures.

• Wireless Triggers: Wireless triggers are transmitters sending either a radio signal or infrared signal to a flash, depending on the model. Wireless triggers attach to the hot shoe on your camera, and when you depress the shutter release button, the light is triggered.
• Sync Cables: These are wired triggers – a cable runs from the camera’s hot shoe to the light to be activated when the shutter button is pressed. You’ve got less mobility when using a sync cable, but they are very dependable.
• Lighting Control Panels: These panels allow you to remotely control lighting features such as color temperature and intensity of the continuous lighting or flash to get the exposure you want. Most allow you to control multiple lights from the same panel. Some have advanced features like channel and frequency settings, trigger syncing, flash duration control and through the lens (TTL) controls.

Light Meters

Light metering is essential to proper exposure. There are two main types of light meters used by photographers.

• Incident light meters: These light meters measure light on the subject rather than light reflecting off the subject. The incident light meter is placed where the subject will be positioned to measure light hitting it. This guarantees proper exposure unaltered by the subject’s reflectivity or color. Incident light meters are used for portrait photography, product photography and other genres where consistent lighting is key to proper exposure. Incident light meters are ideal for use in the studio.
• Reflective light meters: Reflective meters measure light reflecting off the subject. Reflective light meters are used in most DSLR and mirrorless cameras. They can be handheld too. These meters are based on a standard measure of reflected light similar to neutral gray, but since subject color and reflectivity vary greatly, reflective light meters are not as accurate as incident light meters, especially when the subject is bright or dark or very reflective such as water, snow or glass. This requires more work in post-processing to fix exposure issues.

What Is Additional Studio Equipment?

Lighting and stands work best with a range of accessories used for convenience, safety and performance.

• Sliders and Tracks: These tools allow for the secure, smooth movement of cameras and lights. A slider is a lightweight linear track you can mount a camera or light onto and slide it horizontally or vertically for ideal positioning for each shot. Tracks are sturdier and support equipment much the same way as a slider. The difference is that track systems support heavier equipment and more units such as a camera and multiple lights.
• Sandbags: These are used as weights and counterweights to secure tripods and other equipment to the floor and to offset the weight of a light hanging from the end of a boom arm. Sandbags are produced in various weights and styles to fit the needs of a photography studio.
• Lighting Covers and Cases: Light covers prevent dust buildup on lighting and provide minor protection. Cases are essential for light storage, organization, and transportation, and they give you a professional appearance in the studio or showing up for a shoot. Cases with wheels are available for easier movement. Both keep your lights in good condition for greater durability and performance.
• Voltage Regulators: These electrical devices ensure that steady voltage is delivered to lighting and other electrical equipment in your studio. This is important because electrical surges can damage sensitive equipment or harm the performance of lights. And it ensures consistent light output from your continuous lighting and strobe lighting, which is necessary for optimal exposure. Voltage regulators are a safety feature too.