Ice Light Review by Marc Mikhail

This Ice Light Review was provided by Marc Mikhail, Wedding photographer from Toronto, Canada.

I love gadgets and cool stuff.  I’m a very tech-savvy guy, I love everything that has extra bells and whistles because when I want to use them, there they are.  When I encountered the ice light for the first time at the exposure show in Toronto, I thought to myself – what a simple and brilliant thing!  Rechargeable and dimmable white light!

As a wedding photographer, I encounter many different locations that all present unique lighting situations.  I found that working in people’s homes was often tough because of their lack of light, or tungsten bulbs and tight areas with or without windows letting in natural light.  So you can imagine when I first picked up the ice light in my hands, right away I thought of how having a bride outside not only during the last minutes of sunset, but just before the sky has gone dark.  I thought of macro wedding ring shots.  Boudoir intimate shots using the soft light that it provides — just so many thoughts raced through my head while holding it for the first time i had no choice but to purchase it and now I just want more Ice Lights.

At the Bride’s house photographing the dress hanging from the window i could pancake the room with the flash and achieve a terrible photo.  I can shoot with no light and get silhouette of the window back lit dress.  Or i can use one of the coolest lights i have ever seen for just the perfect fill and shoot at a more desirable stop and have so many more options.

I always go for the soft light look with the dresses, I am able to achieve this with the Ice Light with ease.  It is super convenient with an assistant as they can just control any bit of shadow by moving the Ice Light around literally putting the shadows where you want them to be.  For the dress in particular, it gives me some soft fill giving me more access to the details of the dress that I need to capture.

Having a bride outside at night with an Ice Light you are guaranteed to get some awesome images.  Here in Hamilton, Ontario at Liuna Station we have our couple outside the magnificent pillars at night with just 1 ice light.  The bride was stoked to put on her dress at least 1 last time for some more portraits to add to her wedding shots from a few days back.

Another shot I love to use the Ice Light with, is for the macro shooting of the rings.  Every wedding couple loves the macro shots of the rings.  sometimes there are engraved cufflinks as well.  The Ice Light works perfectly in any location giving me absolute control of the light when shooting.  I have achieved the best shots at any stop I want using the Ice Light.

The charge of the Ice Light lasts as long as I need it too.  I’ve never had to recharge it while on a photoshoot and overall it is such a convenience to have. There are no cords to mess with, just full control with the dimming buttons and placement of the stand.  If you do happen to have an assistant, it is even better because you dont have to mount it onto a stand, which saves some time.  In the future, I would love to see a larger Ice Light, as well as another one!

Westcott Lighting Gear in Action