Tim Engle 3/8/21 Tim Engle 3/8/21

Is that a flashlight in your hand?

or many years now I've been using alternate sources of light in my photography most notably flashlights.

It started many years ago while walking down the isles in Costco and I came across one of the first reasonably priced LED flashlights after asking permission my wife allowed me to add it to the basket. I consider this one of my first evolutions in lighting. At first I just kept the lights in my bag in case I needed it. Finally one day on a portrait shoot I pulled it out to see what I could do and was very surprised by the power and how the color temperature was very close to daylight. For the next several years I continued exploring this style of lighting. Fast forward to today and it's like we're in the golden age of lighting. LED flashlights are so powerful and inexpensive that they found a permanent place in my lighting kit. Recently I've been using flashlights made by “O Light” they have an extensive variety of lights on their website, if you're into flashlights it's worth checking out.

For many years now, I've been using alternate sources of light in my photography, most notably flashlights.

It started many years ago while walking down the isles in Costco when I came across one of the first reasonably priced LED flashlights; after asking permission, my wife allowed me to add it to the basket.

I consider this one of my first evolutions in lighting. At first, I just kept the lights in my bag in case I needed it. Finally, one day on a portrait shoot, I pulled it out to see what I could do and was very surprised by the power and how the color temperature was very close to daylight. For the next several years, I continued exploring this style of lighting. Fast forward to today, and it's like we're in the golden age of illumination. LED flashlights are so powerful and inexpensive. They have found a permanent place in my lighting kit. I recently started using flashlights made by a company named "O Light" they have a wide variety of lights on their website. If you're into flashlights, it's worth checking out.

The flashlight I used on this particular day was the Marauder 2. Some of the crazy stats are an 800-meter spotlight beam from the central LED and a 14000-lumen floodlight beam from 12 surrounding LEDs.

An intuitive rotary knob switch to turn on the light and circle through 7 output levels.

It's undoubtedly an impressive light.

For this shoot, I spent the afternoon with my good friend Morgan, she and I have worked together quite a few times, and I always enjoy our sessions together. The goal for the shoot was to walk and find the light. The camera I'm using is a Nikon Z6 II with a sigma 35 mm 1.4 lens. I could talk extensively about how much I love that lens, but I'll save that for another time.

Below are my results in using the flashlight as the main light and the sun as a backlight.

ISO 50 • 1/640 • f 3.5 — ISO 50 • 1/640 • f 3.5

I found the color temperature pleasing, and it only required a little white balance adjustment to bring it back to daylight.

ISO 50 • 1/320 • f 3.5 — ISO 50 • 1/320 • f 3.5

I'm going to test some other flashlights from O Light soon, and I'll be sure and share the results with you all.

Tim Engle 8/17/14 Tim Engle 8/17/14

Little Light That Could

The LED Lenser P7 is always part of my camera bag. Thanks Christine The Photographer for helping me making this image.

If you've ever been to a Click Monkey Event, Preston Castle Photo Day, or have just come along on a shoot with me, then you know that one of my favorite tools is the LED lenser P7. I first came across it in 2009 at Costco. It was on sale and you who know me, I hate to pass on a good deal! I’m always on the lookout for cool lights. I kept it in my bag for a few weeks before I discovered what it was capable of.

I was shooting some portraits in Tahoe with natural light and just grabbed the flashlight to see what it could do. WOW, was I impressed with it! The P7’s quality of light, power, and color temperature was spot on! The way it put light out was smooth with no crazy patterns or hot spots. I had tried a Maglite flashlight in the past and was always disappointed with the result, so I didn’t expect much from this light. The next revelation was that I could focus the beam with one had very easily. This was a huge help in getting just the right light on the subject.

Now, I must say that I warn my models when I’m going to use it on them and also to not look directly into the light. I also try not to keep the P7 shining straight in my subject’s eyes for very long. It is a tactical flashlight and VERY bright!

I have since built up my collection to around 14 different LED flashlights. I was even able to get 3 prototypes of a true red, a true green, and true blue flashlight from LED Lenser. I was very fortunate because only two color flashlights were ever made. Those prototypes gave me an additional option when shooting, as they add a very interesting splash of color to my images.

Working the P7 in one hand and the Nikon D4 in the other.

Most recently my P7 proved handy for one of my larger shoots for HTC. At the time of the shoot, my clients were amazed that a little flashlight could do so much.

I think the moral of the story is to never be afraid to try new and different lighting tools.

Happy Clicking!