It must be human nature to want to show off, to say “I’ve got this, behold it and weep”. I get that, I truly do because one of my favourite hobbies happens to revolve around taking photos of my toys and pretending that people actually care about what I post on Instagram as I chase that dopamine dragon that comes with every like.
On a technical level, there’s a lot that goes into taking a great photograph. Skill and equipment play a large role, while the actual environment that your subject sits in is just as important. With people, you can cheat a bit on this front by doing some of the ol’ hokey-bokeh, but with static objects? It’s well worth creating a space that is neutral in design so that your subject can stand out even more.
There’s a variety of ways that you can achieve this, from something as simple as a velvet backdrop which absorbs all rogue light and creates suitably gothic impressions to massive pieces of flexible photography Perspex that you can use to frame your picture. Throw in some big lights, and you’re sorted. The thing is, is that all of this is very expensive and takes up a ton of space. Not everyone has that luxury, but Photon wants to change all that with their modular lighting system rig.
The idea is simple enough: A modular studio that you can easily set up and control with your smartphone as you fire away on your camera. Here’s the wonderfully bonkers pitch trailer for it:
Photon says that each panel will have 25 active light blocks measuring in at 100 x 100mm a piece, 2700 LED lights in total, 36 LED elements per block and a built-in wi-fi transmitter that can connect to their app and allow you to adjust settings on the fly. The system allows for a variety of setups based on your needs, size of your subject matter and can connect to other modules to create a mini studio for photography.
Which is totally neat. The Photon LMS is currently on Kickstarter, where as of the time that this post was written, it is well on its way to being fully realised now that it has secured over $87 000 from backers and still has just over two weeks to go on the clock. It is a tad bit on the pricy side, as merely getting your hands on one of the blocks as part of the early bid hook will set you back at least $219, while a full three-block studio setup with backgrounds and mounts will cost you $549.
Still, not a bad price at all for professionals looking to make a living with a piece of kit that’ll save plenty of space. The Photon LMS is currently scheduled to arrive in June 2020.
Last Updated: July 24, 2019
