LED Lighting has become more and more popular in the photo industry. Indeed, the little lights that could are simple to use, give a ton of efficient output, and are easy to use in so many situations. We’ve reviewed lots of LED lights from Switronix; and upon learning about Geek.com’s Editor in Chief Sal Cangeloso’s new book on LED lights, I decided to take the plunge and learn more about the technology despite being more of a strobe user myself.
Sal’s book starts out giving us a couple of key terms that we need to know in order to keep reading. Not only that, but he also explains a lot of it in layman’s terms. Trust me, you’ll need it too. For lighting enthusiasts and those with lots of experience, some of the terminology like color temperature and the explanation of how the scale works will sound all too familiar.
The book continues to explore the even more geeky realm of LED lighting and also a brief history. It relates to the reader how LEDs used to be expensive to manufacture but how the price cost has come down significantly in the years: especially for colored LED lights. It does more than that though; it tackles the problems that arise with how consumers will need to be coaxed over to purchase LED lights vs other more affordable options.
The book itself doesn’t really relate to the photography realm directly, but it does contain key principles that can be applied to our every day life. For example, it teaches people that don’t already know about the Kelvin scale of measurement. Additionally, it also gives many real world examples for how LED lights have become more useful, powerful, and hints to us at how they may become a more critical part of our future.
When you come to think of it, it also can make one think about the issues of using strong LED lights vs Tungsten and Florescent; which we are all very used to using. But take for example the fact that LED lights can be balanced to either end of the lighting spectrum with ease, and you have yourself a strong argument for a possible need for the industry to shift within the next three years.
Sal’s book is overall around 60 pages and can be easily read within the period of a lunch break; though I recommend reading and re-reading the book due to the fact that he crams so much information into such a tiny spot.
LED Lighting: a Primer to Lighting the Future is available for purchase on Amazon and the Kindle Store.