Godox recently sent me a new led light to test its features as applied to photography. The Godox Ring 72 Macro is Godox’s latest addition to its range of continuous lights.
Equipped with 72 daylight-balanced 5600K LEDs, it features ten adjustable brightness levels. But its great peculiarity is that it has two controls for each half of the circle of light, with which we can leave the usual monotonous flat light of this type of lights and create volume, even working with a front light position.
I started the session by photographing colored pencils arranged in a very informal way. The challenge of the entire shoot was to achieve effective lighting with only one light source. By arranging the light sideways, I was able to highlight the volume of the pencils while achieving a gradient in the background. The farther away the background is placed, the darker its tone will be.
The second test was with shells and sea snails. The volume of these elements was something to highlight and once again the side lighting brought out not only the textures of the elements but also that of the stones on the floor.
To give it a slightly warmer point of color, I placed a golden reflector on the left and a small mirror on the same side. To give it a slightly warmer point of color, I placed a golden reflector on the left and a small mirror on the same side. In this way, as the background was placed at an angle to the subject, I was able to make the background a little more homogeneous in the end.
The next variant was made with warm gelatines to achieve an image that simulates the sunset in the afternoon. Because this light has a CRI or color rendering index of 96+, it is a reliable light source for faithfully reproducing the colors of photographic motifs.
I wanted to try this amazing light with metallic objects. The result is very good because by placing a diffuser in front of the light source, very soft gradients are achieved, as well as a very good light distribution.
Powering the RING72 is easy with two separately available options: four AA, alkaline or rechargeable NiMH batteries, or a detachable lithium-ion battery, making the setup fully portable, especially outside the studio. In addition, it mounts directly on most lenses and comes with 49, 52, 55, 62, 67, 72 and 77 mm adapter rings.
The batteries still had plenty of charge and I wanted to perform one last test. For this I arranged the light very close to the can, a diffuser in front of the light, the light very close, forming a 90-degree angle to the camera and a curved background. The contrast was decreased on the right with a white reflector and by adding a few drops of glycerin we obtained the following result.
An extremely versatile light source for macro still life photography and with many more possibilities applied to portrait or video.
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