Michael Craft Photography
Advertising photographer Michael Craft has a longstanding national reputation for his masterful use of light.
Headquartered in Seattle, Michael Craft’s Studio 621 was thoughtfully designed and built to accommodate everything from a drive-in shooting stage to a full service kitchen and is considered one of Seattle’s premier environments for photographing people and consumer products.
The Challenge
Michael Craft Photography’s Studio 621 is the ideal setting to accommodate for numerous set options. It has an open floor plan to allow for easy transitions during photoshoots. Professional photoshoots tend to be extremely busy and free flowing, so lighting becomes a critical component to ensure optimal photographic output. The previous overhead fluorescent lighting system was inefficient from an energy usage standpoint and only had one access switch for the entire area requiring crew to frequently have to stop everything to walk over to the switch to make any lighting changes. This took extra time and potentially affected the flow of the photoshoot. Remote lighting control features were identified as an opportunity to improve overall aesthetics and allow for quick lighting need changes.
Our Solution
The Toggled iQ lighting control system provides a lower cost, user-friendly and future upgradable solution that is well equipped to accommodate Michael Craft Photography’s desire to remotely control overhead studio lighting from the comfort and proximity of their personal phones or a digital workstation based iPad. No more having to leave the set to make necessary lighting changes. The Toggled iQ app also allows for an easy installation process by studio personnel themselves and provides a quick and intuitive user control interface.
Toggled iQ is a Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) wireless mesh system that allows for the connectivity of up to 32,000 devices so the Michael Craft Photography team has plenty of room to grow as needed in the future. Additional components can be quickly added as well, such as Toggled iQ sensors to enable motion/occupancy as well as daylight harvesting capabilities.
Results
Adding the Toggled iQ LED lighting and controls platform generates energy savings up to 70% over existing fluorescent lights. Direct wire LED technology provides a much better quality of light and eliminates the need for fluorescent ballasts entirely so there are no more worries about fluorescent buzz and flicker disrupting future photoshoots.
Overall costs were kept minimal because Toggled iQ is a wireless lighting control system that does not require expensive new wiring to be run or the associated extensive installation fees. The commissioning process was easy enough to be done in-house as well.
Industry
Photography
- Provides the ability to choose between an open or closed system
- Allows for seamless pairing with new and existing devices
- Includes an API documentation tool to design and customize interfaces for end users
- Allows platform to remotely control devices and create smart scenarios
- Includes secure (TLS) connection to Toggled iQ backend for simple
visualization, cloud storage and processing
Goals
- Eliminate energy inefficient fluorescent lighting
- Improve overall aesthetics and allow for quick lighting need changes
Solution
Upgrade to the Toggled iQ LED lighting and controls platform which connects using a Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) wireless mesh system
- Provides the ability to choose between an open or closed system
- Allows for seamless pairing with new and existing devices
- Includes an API documentation tool to design and customize interfaces for end users
- Allows platform to remotely control devices and create smart scenarios
- Includes secure (TLS) connection to Toggled iQ backend for simple
visualization, cloud storage and processing
Results
“The new Toggled iQ lighting system provides really nice, even and consistent overhead lighting for ideal working conditions. Remote wireless control, dimming features and scene presets allow for the flexibility we were looking and hoping for.” – Michael Craft