Continuous lighting and Headshots

If you look really closely at the eyes of my subjects you will see that the catch-lights (the reflections you always see in people's eyes) are rectangular in shape. This is because I use daylight mats to light people's faces. These are panels of hundreds of little LEDs which emit a light that is similar in colour to natural daylight. They have several desirable effects. Firstly, they are very bright and this makes the iris larger which to my mind is a good thing. Secondly they seem to wrap around the face creating a much softer light, similar to window light, which I love. These daylight mats are the sort that are used by cinematographers in movie making. They are continuous lighting and allow the photographer to see exactly where the light and shadow are falling. Most photographers use strobes or flash but I only use these daylight mats in my studio.