Mama got a brand new light

Every year, I get myself a little Christmas present.

This year, I went with some portable continuous lighting. I didn’t want to drop $400 on the Westcott version, because that seemed nutty, so I went with the $80 Neewer light stick.

It comes with a handy carrying case, which I’ll never use; a remote control, because it can screw onto a tripod or light stand; and a USB charging cable.

It has 10 light levels, brightening the room up to 5600K. The Westcott Ice Light 2 hits 5500K and the $240 Godox LC500R blows up to 8600K. I maybe should have considered the Godox because I’m finding even 5600K isn’t quite enough for outdoor spaces, but I shied away because I didn’t really need RGB colors that strobe to the sound of whatever music you might be playing.

I started out yesterday with an indoor shot of Bella, waiting ever so patiently for her walk. In bed. Like a good Maremma sheepdog.

You can see how nicely this little stick targets your subject and helps you isolate her.

We then hit one of our favorite urban hiking spots in Spokane, Dishman Hills Conservancy. There’s a neat little rock cavern in the Enchanted Ravine, where the light stick helped bring Bella out of the dark.

Bella hiking at Dishman Hills in Spokane Valley — Out of the dark

We made our way up to Eagle Peak, where we had a wide-open vista of Spokane in the background.

I still had to do a bit of Photoshop work for contrast and brightening, because the light stick doesn’t do much in wide-open spaces. It did, however, give her that little glint in her eyes. I just have to get used to the shape of the catchlight. It’s so different from a softbox.