Flash vs continuous lighting

[ihatedv]

Still photography, what is the significance of having a soft box flash versus being on constantly? If any.

[CharlieG]

The short spin...
Most continuous lighting are tungsten and can get very hot in temp. and also uses a lot of
electricity. Flash (strobes) are cooler and uses less electricity...

[ihatedv]

OK, gotcha. If one were to use a continuously lit softbox. Would it be the same as using a flash softbox?

[egproductions]

A strobe is usually brighter than what you would get with constant lighting. Remember, video usually only requires a 60th, 48th or 30th of a second shutter speed wheras you typically try to avoid motion blur in still photos.

As CharlieG mentioned, flashes use less power and run cooler. They are more portable than constant lighting also. You also want to make your subject as comfortable as possible. People who aren't models, don't usually appreciate lots of light in their eyes.

The quality of the light using the same softbox should be very similiar though. But remember that speedlights are typically balanced for daylight and constant lighting (unless you spend alot) has a lower color temperature.

[Houtman]

yeh, i imagine contigniously light softboxes can get pretty hot, so unless you want your model to sweat like a boar i recommend flash

contigniously light lamps are usually warmer in colour.. say around 3200/3600 kelvin. whereas the flash more joins the ranks of daylight colors.. (around 5600 k) much cooler.
this would mean that without a carefull color balance made in advance you might end up with a red model.

[Casalen]

I primarily use flash based lighting because the power requirements are less, the heat isn't an issue and they are very portable. Also important, the human subject if there is one will certainly be thankful to not have a big studio light in his/her face the whole time.

[Adam J McKay]

I love to use continuous light when I can, it just really helps setting up shots etc. You know exactly what your going to get. If you can light with CFl then you have daylight balanced light that don't get hot and use very little energy. I am still a fan of natural light. I am a sucker for great natural light, if I see it, something needs to get shot.

[grahamdunn]

Many studio strobes have modellng lights on them as well, so they're continuous (but somewhat dim) lights that let you see what you're doing to some extent, while simultaneously keeping your model's eyes from dilating too far. Then when you shoot, the modeling light turns off and the flash fires.

Alien Bees are a good inexpensive brand (as strobes go...still not super cheap!). You'll notice a big difference between the flash power output and the continuous lights' output.

Flashes also have the ability to freeze motion, and are only affected by the aperture of your camera, since the instantaneous burst of light is essentially serving as your shutter speed. With continuous light, your aperture and shutter speed will both have an effect on the image (just like when shooting natural light outdoors). These are important factors to consider. Check out strobist.com for some great tips and tricks about shooting with flashes.

[ihatedv]

Thanks for all the answers!