My sister in law runs a very successful hair salon in Truro, Cornwall called Marzipan Hair, and the other day she told me about a brilliant new device that could do wonders for dentists, particularly if you’re interested in Digital Smile Design. I popped round to check it out.
Hannah, what is this device?
It’s a ringlight and the model I have is the Neewer HD18S. I bought it for £60 off Amazon including posting and packaging and it came with the stand. You can rotate it and it plugs in.
What does it do?
It lets us show off our work to customers and potential customers in the best possible way. This is important to us because we post before and after shots on social media every day, it’s a key part of our social media. But also it’s about showing the customer what you’ve done in detail, so they can appreciate what they are paying for and leave happy.
Me with the ring light off and on
How does it work?
The idea is you take a photo through the ringlight, which lights up your subject, and you’ve got different options for intensity, and tonal options from really warm to cold. It’s really easy to use — there are only two dials for intensity and tone — and it’s lightweight so easy to whip out when you need it. There’s also a universal fitting to attach a camera or smartphone, although I haven’t needed to use this.
Why do you change the intensity and tone of light?
We’ve found that it helps to make adjustments depending on the time of day and the amount of daylight available. You’re going for the most flattering picture you can get but you also need to be able to see detail so the tone helps with different skin tones. We’ve found that when we want to show cooler hair colours the cooler filter helps. If we are colouring hair to make it look grey and we use a warm light it will obviously look yellow or ginger in tone, and if we use the cool light it will look paler, and no filter will be a bit more true to colour.
We think every dental practice should have a ringlight handy because it gives you the flexibility to get the best possible shots of your patients. There’s less shadow too because the shape of the ring floods the subject with light from a nice range of angles. So it’s great for before and after shots that can be shown to patients and posted on social media, but also perfect to speed up mock-up shots during the DSD process, thereby enhancing the ultimate consent process. I couldn’t find Hannah’s model on Amazon but there are loads of similar ones by Neewer. If you do have a look, make sure yours:
- Is dimmable so you can get just the right amount of light
- Comes with cold and warm filters included
- Comes with its own stand
- Plugs in so you don’t have to worry about batteries
If you already have a ringlight, we’d love to hear your feedback.
Best wishes
More on Digital Smile Design
Digital Smile Design — the next step on your patient journey
Make decisions easier for your patients. Use digital to show, not tell
Hannah snapped behind the ringlight with no chance to do her own hair (thank you / sorry Hannah…)