Happy Friday! This is the latest installation of my series for photographers, The Open Book Club! { See past posts from the series HERE } Last weekend I tested out a new kind of light source and wanted to share the results with you! I first was introduced to the Ice Light when I was second shooting early in my career with my good friend Melissa Mullen. The Ice Light is a constant light source (as opposed to a flash that fires). I knew that many of Jess & Andrew’s bride and groom portraits would be done inside at night (with this gorgeous church & amazing locations inside the Peabody Essex Museum, who could resist?!). So I of course packed up all of my off-camera flash gear, but decided to rent the Ice Light 2 from LensProToGo too. Here are a few pros & cons from my experience working with the Ice Light 2…

PROS:

– Beautiful constant light source (there was no flickering, which can make a difference in the consistency of the photos!)

– When we were moving location to location quickly, this was much faster than setting up the off-camera flash each time. You can see & shape the light, make sure the Ice Light’s output is matching any ambient light, and start shooting!

– Little & Compact makes it very easy to lug around!

CONS: 

– It’s a can be a bit limiting when it comes to wide angle shots. In my opinion, this light is the most beautiful when it’s held fairly close to the subject. The light worked for the spiral staircase shot below because I could have my assistant holding the light and be blocked by the stairs above her, but in big open spaces, there would have been nowhere for her to hide. In these situations I just busted out my off-camera flash set up. This is really the 1 con I found when using it!

– You need an assistant to be able to use it to its best potential. I had a wonderful assistant, Amy Reebenacker, there to help me out this weekend, but if you didn’t have an assistant shooting with you, this could present some issues. Even though you can buy an adapter for a stand for this, that’s not the problem. When I’m shooting with off-camera flash, I can control all the settings right from my camera, but with an Ice Light, you need a 2nd person there to hold the light & turn the power up and down to make adjustments to the power of the light output. But the good news is, if you didn’t have an assistant, you could grab a bridesmaid or anyone willing to help because it’s a simple +/- button on the light that anyone could do without having photo knowledge!

Here are some photos from this past Saturday’s wedding shot with the Ice Light 2:

Canon 50mm f/1.2L
1/160 sec
f/2.0
ISO 1600

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II
1/125 sec
f/2.8
ISO 2000

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II
1/125 sec
f/2.8
ISO 800

Canon 100mm f/2.8L
1/125 sec
f/2.8
ISO 2000

Final Verdict: I really liked it! I would definitely rent it again but would need to try it out a few more times before making the dive to buy one for myself. If you’ve ever thought about trying one of these out, I would definitely recommend checking out LensProToGo to rent one to play with!

Happy Friday!