Patent ID: 8618740

Claim:
A photographic illumination system, comprising: (a) a first flash, configured to emit an intense broadband illumination pulse in a spatial illumination pattern, triggered by an external trigger signal; (b) a second flash, configured to emit a series of broadband illumination pulses at a sufficient rate to be perceived by the human eye as continuous illumination, and having a range of different available illumination intensities and a substantially overlapping spatial illumination pattern with respect to the spatial illumination pattern of the first flash; (c) a synchronizer configured to detect at least a power main cyclic fluctuation, and to synchronize the emissions of the second flash with the fluctuation; and (d) a control circuit configured to independently control an illumination intensity and emission spectrum of the second flash, by controlling at least an electrode voltage and an electrode pulse duration of the series of broadband illumination pulses of the second flash, to provide a consistent color temperature of the second flash over the range of different available illumination intensities.