So a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be gifted with a light ring, and I immediately thought (after deciding it wasn't a fake offer) that it would be great to use on a portrait shoot and I am happy to say that I was right.

To put it to best use and test it's full capabilities I decided I would do a portrait party with a handful of people. For those that have never heard of a portrait party, don't worry neither had I until I looked into the best way to name what I wanted to do haha. It's basically just getting people together to shoot portraits. I gave myself a short timeline of a week to set everything up and lucked out in getting hold of a room at Ivy House in Coventry who offer room hire for free! Having been there before I had an idea of the size of the room and the light.

The week of the party came and the weather wasn't great, a handful of people pulled out and I was nervous no one would turn up. I turned up anyway and started to set up.

Tragedy struck...I accidentally dropped the light when setting it up with parts going flying. I thought it was broken, however I quickly learned how sturdy it was and also that the panels to diffuse the light were easily taken on and off. Lucky!

The first person who turned up to shoot was the lovely Amy who I had shot before so was perfect to shoot. While I got to grips with the light she was as patient as can be and even helped me finish setting up. What a star.

Here's one of the shots I got of her:

While taking the shots I played with the ring lights versatile range of brightness settings as the skin tones I was working with varied quite a lot as did the tone of some of the portraits I was going for. I found that it was super easy to control the light ring and that it paired well with additional lighting that I brought with me which was a bright saber.

This produced some gorgeous light that added to the portraits and made them pop even more against the dark backdrop I was using for the portraits.

You can see some of the results of this from the shots below of Sherrie, Shauna and Lucy who were all awesome for coming.

The real super star of the shoot (other than my lovely defacto assistant for the night Regan) has to be Sadé who brought the fire with her shots it has to be said. The shots below are my personal favourites from the shoot but she will be posting hers on her instagram for like...ever.

That was pretty much the portrait party. It was honestly a little nerve wracking to do even though I've organised events before, this was the first time I was technically on my own.

The light test was successful and it is now an essential part of my kit for taking portraits in a setting I can control. The only two let downs with this light is that it requires a plug socket (but this is something you would expect with one of it's size - it's huge) and that it is difficult to set up the first time if you've never done it before, but after that first time it's like riding a bike...as long as you don't drop it.

I cannot recommend getting this light enough if you are looking for an affordable and good quality light ring for shooting portraits.

You can get hold of your own ring light here for less than £100 (that penny counts).

If you’re in need of a portrait and could use a photographer, get in touch and let’s discuss how I could help capture the you that you want people to see.