Macro lighting: LED Vs flash - What's the difference and which is best

Confused about what equipment to use to light your macro images? Is LED better than flash for getting sharp photos? And what techniques will result in better-looking shots? I break down the differences in this week's tutorial and hopefully make it easy for beginners or advanced photographers among you to get to grips with lighting for photography.

I show how I use Godox flash lights like the AD200 to freeze motion and overpower the sun in bright conditions and how cheap LED light panels can just help pick out your subject in your composition.

#Macro #Photography #Tutorial

[matejmatej]

I enjoy using a flash more for various reasons. You can not only freeze motion with it but it allows for much more dramatic compositions. Its also mountable to your camera so you dont have to carry it seperately. I still find LEDs very uselful tho. They are brilliant for lighting up your videos and they are a strong light source that u can even use as a lamp in your room. For photography, im all in for a flash/speedlight but for videography its the LEDs. Have a nice weekend Andrew!

[misha]

So far, I have just used natural lighting with maybe a reflector, msybe a small LumeCube. Since I generally focus stack, I am photographing static scenes. OTOH, I am now equipped to use flash, so I can start experimenting.

[roybixby]

Most strobes have modeling lights (including that AD200)
Most LEDs are only really good for Video and Jewelry.
Cheap LED lights are not colour accurate and Big LED lights are very expensive.

[MacM]

I've done macro photos using Lume Cube Lighting. The first version was able to work as a slave flash. I decided to purchase the second version, which doesn't include such feature, but can flash at a fairly bright luminance. Normal Flashes can be slightly brighter than Lume Cube. I've also tried using an LED panel which was about as powerful as a flash for the same price. I've found that diffuse lighting is important sometimes, especially for extreme magnification. I rarely use light sources though. I've realized that light sources aren't of much use for me as I initially had expected. Rather, I've tried to be making macro in sunshine during a cloudy day.

[rinohals]

Hey. Great video. But, I can't completely agree with you regards to that the Rotolight is only a constant light. My Rotolight Neo 2 works flawlessly as a flash. I use it all the time. But it requires an Elincrome trigger or a sync cable🙂 In flash mode it is much stronger/powerful than in constant light mode.

[fountainvalley]

Which NEO were you using? The NEO 2 in flash mode output is significantly higher. The output goes up by 200% on internal battery or 500% on external battery. I’ve found the NEO 2 works fine in flash mode.

[xiaodebeibao]

Why LED is a little blur at the thing's edge? but Flash light doesn't have that blur, thant means Flash is much clear than LED. the Aperture is same, the shutspeed is high like 120-160(not same), iso is different.

[DThrills]

Unfair demonstration. You should have used the stronger round LED instead of that little rectangle piece of crap.
I don't own a flash.

[lexlayabout]

"Speedlight" or "Speedlite" are the names that Nikon and Canon give their flash units. There are not generic terms, although Americans tend to use them as such. Not everyone uses a Nikon or a Canon, or their flash units.

[peterc]

Great vid again Andrew. Have you done a vid on setting up a flash for newbies at all? I'd love to do more flash photography and I do have a cheap speedlight and triggers but I have no idea how to set it all up and what setting to use.

[alanm.]

Good info! I've always used flash (and monolights in studio)... Or just ambient light when it's sufficient. But I have thought about trying LED for exactly the reasons you mention...
Something you didn't mention was that some flash (and a lot of studio strobes) have a modelling light... A lower power but continuous light source you can use for a bit of a preview how your flash shot will look. For example, the Canon MT24EX Twinlite I use has a modelling light an each of its two flash heads.
While those modelling lights aren't very powerful, they can give some idea how the shadows and highlights are going to fall on a subject.

[matthewwood]

I am not sure if this has been mentioned in the comments but that little LED light is also a flash unit, could you not just take it with you and use it for both.

[smiffy]

Doesn't that AD200 have modelling lights to help with positioning?

[tintinrr]

Just had my 1st trial at macro photography with a diffused speed light flash and also a led macro ring and I found using both of these together was the best results as the ring leds just filled in the shadows while the diffused speed light really lit up the subject and also it wiped out the blue cast that the leds gave to the images resulting in really nice autumn 🍂colours in the subject which was some mushrooms 🍄 on a old log 🪵 .the test shots just with the ring led was alright but lacking in colour and detail which yeah could be corrected in post but straight out of camera the flash wins leds just there for shadows 👍

[danram]

im due to buy my first flash for macro photos what would you recomend please ?

[ianpetriesphotography]

or you can put the model light on the flash to see where the light is going to land, then when photograph the subject the flash will take over the model lighting situation.

[scottscrufari]

what about simply using a strobe with a LED modeling light? once you see where the latest is falling you take the picture with the strobe

[jimowens]

There are benefits and drawbacks to both Continuous and Flash lighting and for the most part you have pointed these out well in the video. There are a couple of things I would like to add. Modern cameras and flash also allow for HSS so shooting at the camera's sync speed under 1/320 with FP shutters is no longer a limitation. The images in this video portray the subject in isolation by using artificial light to overpower the natural light on the background. For this affect the flash is useful. It is however indistinguishable from shooting the subject in a studio. On the other hand if you want to portray the subject in it's natural environment and only highlight or fill, then the constant light or a reflector works fine and has the benefit of WYSIWYG. In conclusion, there are no overall right or wrong tools ( a hand held screwdriver, a battery powered drill or one that runs on mains power) will drive that screw. It is the situation, the subject and the desired result that make some tools better suited for the given combination.

[zuperblue]

Tape a led torch to the flash you will see the lighting before using the flash👍

[JoeMustang]

I have an LED head for the AD200's, then use the same square diffuser as when shooting flash. This will work in a dim environment when continuous is needed. But I use flash a lot more often. Also, I've found that I can use a Godox 860-II-O Olympus specific flash with a Sony camera if I use the Sony specific controller and the flash off camera. Even TTL works. I have both Olympus and Sony camera bodies, so this saved me needing to buy a Sony specific 860-II flash.