Studio lights are any form of lighting equipment used by photographers, often when working in a photography studio, to enhance their photography. Most professional photographers have different light kits they use depending on the situation they find themselves shooting in.

Continuous lighting

Continuous lighting setups allow you to keep your subjects pre-lit using the same light levels as when you take the photograph, these lights will stay on the whole time. Other lights, like traditional flashes or strobe lights, produce light only in momentary flashes, making it harder to adjust the lighting before shooting.

Because the lights are on all the time, you can position your model and change the light stand to have the light fall precisely the way you want it. You can instantly see where the shadows fall, adjust the highlights and/or double check that the catch lights hit the eye just by raising or lowering the light or moving the stand around. 

Continuous lighting will allow you to photograph simultaneously without interfering with each other’s lighting.

With continuous lighting, you don’t need to worry about external lighting components like triggers. That means you can get your shoot set up quickly and easily regardless of how many cameras you intend to use.

Where as Flash Lighting is when it illuminates the area with light. When you’re taking a photo in low light conditions, you might need a flash.

Flash lighting

Like flashes of lightning in nature, not all strobes have the same flash duration. Having a short flash duration is the key to freezing fast action. Some strobe lights do not have their flash duration speeds published but, in general, increased power means the flash will not only be brighter, but the flash duration will also be longer.