Ring Light

The ring light

A simple lighting tool that is often used for portrait, beauty shots and macro photography. The camera lens is positioned in the centre. Another feature that ring light users quite like is the 'catchlight', the shiny light of ring reflected in the subject's eyes. This effect is better achieved using a larger ring light. 

Ring lights get their name from their shape. A ring light has advantages over normal lights and flashes. Ring lights are available in different sizes and generally have LED bulbs for light. Some do make use of fluorescent light still. Variations include versions that are larger and fit on a stand to be used in a studio or outdoors; the others are the smaller variants that are used with mobile phones or are built to fit onto a DSLR. Some have a setting that allows them to function as a flash would and go off just when the shot is being taken. The flash version does save power, but the always-on one allows users to adjust settings more easily.

Ring light advantages

The light is more diffused, helping achieve a clean image without shadow. A softer light quality that helps the subject have a slight glow. The catchlight effect mentioned before is also something users appreciate a lot. The evenly distributed light also has better results for macro shots.

A lot of vloggers on YouTube have a setup that includes a ring light. The reason being that it is simple to use and has results in the video that compare to other more complex lighting setups.

Given that ring lights are made by many different brands, in many sizes and difference in features their price range varies a lot. The light temperature may be fixed and also may have controls to adjust it. Ring lights are available from the lower end to the top end of the price spectrum.