A photography strobe’s actual power output is going to come down to a number of different reasons. While the wattage used is much less, the actual light output (generally measured in lumens) is the same. Surely you’ve seen this if you’ve ever swapped out one of your traditional incandescent light bulbs for a LED bulb. In short, Watts is a measure of the electrical power the light itself draws, and so watt second is how much power it draws in a given second. Much like how speaker size doesn’t measure decibel rating in music equipment, Watt seconds doesn’t give an accurate reading of how much lumens each light is creating. Most lights are measured in Watt Seconds, which has foolishly became the standard for lighting gear within photography. The most common misconception when it comes to lighting is that the standard unit of measurement means something in regards to light output. If you want your light to illuminate your subject, without having drastic effects on your background, bring your light as close as possible to your subject. 8Ws), so the secret to lighting is that distance is everything. The fall off is more extreme at the shorter end of the spectrum (the power change from one meter to 4 meters (from 320Ws to 20Ws) is more significant than the power shift from 10 meters to 20 meters (3.2Ws to. But the inverse square law tells us the power has a greater falloff with distance, so if it’s 320Ws at 1 meter from your subject, it’s only putting out an equivalent of 12.8W at 5 meters away. At 320Ws, people consider this strobe to have plenty of power. For example, a strobe like the AlienBees B800 is a standard light for many portrait photographers, and usually, has enough power to be able to shoot on location. What this means, is that you don’t need nearly as much power as you think you do, and that distance is far more important than power.
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