Lighting Macro Photographs with CircuitPython

Lighting Macro Photographs with CircuitPython

LED lighting rigs are expensive. Worse, they have little to no controls aside from on and off. Most are not dimmable and the only way to change color is to use gels (colored sheets of plastic).

In this talk I will discuss how CircuitPython was used in conjunction with LEDs and microcontrollers to make a custom LED lighting rig.

The Problem

Macro photography is very small scale and the standard LED light arrays are too much for a given composition. LED arrays for photography are expensive and featureless.

The Solution

Use CircuitPython to control LEDs using microcontrollers to light macro photography.

The Hardware

• Circuit Playground Express (for testing purposes)
• Feather M0 Express
• LEDs

The Software

Information about the code will include:

• What worked (the finished code)
• Where problems arose and how they were handled.
• How the lights are controlled with the code. (to make the rig customizable to the situation).

Lights in Use

Show how the lights are actually used. The process of taking a photograph with them will be documented.

The Result of Using the Lights

Images will be shown to compare the differences between using the custom lighting rig and not using it.