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Perfect Lighting for Facial Photography in Aesthetic Surgery: Ring Light

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Abstract

Introduction

Photography is indispensable for plastic surgery. On-camera flashes can result in bleached out detail and colour. This is why most of the plastic surgery clinics prefer studio lighting similar to professional photographers’. In this article, we want to share a simple alternative to studio lighting that does not need extra space: Ring light.

Methods

We took five different photographs of the same person with five different camera and lighting settings: Smartphone and ring light; point and shoot camera and on-camera flash; point and shoot camera and studio lighting; digital single-lens reflex (DLSR) camera and studio lighting; DSLR and ring light. Then, those photographs were assessed objectively with an online survey of five questions answered by three distinct populations: plastic surgeons (n: 28), professional portrait photographers (n: 24) and patients (n: 22) who had facial aesthetic procedures.

Results

Compared to the on-camera flash, studio lighting better showed the wrinkles of the subject. The ring light facilitated the perception of the wrinkles by providing homogenous soft light in a circular shape rather than bursting flashes. The combination of a DSLR camera and ring light gave the oldest looking subject according to 64 % of responders. The DSLR camera and the studio lighting demonstrated the youngest looking subject according to 70 % of the responders. The majority of the responders (78 %) chose the combination of DSLR camera and ring light that exhibited the wrinkles the most.

Conclusions

We suggest using a ring light to obtain well-lit photographs without loss of detail, with any type of cameras. However, smartphones must be avoided if standard pictures are desired.

Level of Evidence IV

This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266.

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Acknowledgments

We hereby thank Satı Şahin for being our photography model. In addition, we thank all the survey respondents.

Author contribution

Utku Can DÖLEN, collected the data, reviewed the literature and wrote the article. Selçuk ÇINAR, took the photographs and wrote the article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dr. Abdurrahman Yurtaslan Ankara Oncology Training and Research Hospital, Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Clinic, Ankara, Turkey

    Utku Can Dölen

  2. Çekbeni Photography Studio, Ankara, Turkey

    Selçuk Çınar

Authors
  1. Utku Can Dölen
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  2. Selçuk Çınar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Utku Can Dölen.

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Conflict of interest

None of the authors has a financial interest in any of the products, devices or drugs mentioned in this manuscript.

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Dölen, U.C., Çınar, S. Perfect Lighting for Facial Photography in Aesthetic Surgery: Ring Light. Aesth Plast Surg 40, 319–326 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-016-0614-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-016-0614-0

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