NEVER, EVER touch any halogen bulb with your bare hands - even when it's cool or turned off! This also applies to the standard round, non-halogen modeling lights used on older model strobes, but to a lesser degree. Always use a soft cloth or paper towel or gloves to touch, install, or remove ANY halogen bulb. Why? Because the acid on human skin may cause the bulb to burst at its weakest point when it's turned on and heated up!

Turn off all halogen lights whenever they're not being used.

Heat is the destroyer of all bulbs, especially incandescent bulbs and the longer you leave a halogen bulb on, the shorter it's lifetime will be. Also, wait 10 minutes or so after turning it off before attempting to touch a halogen light bulb (even through a paper towel or thin piece of cloth, the heat can easily burn your fingers (take it from someone who knows). Also, it's always a good idea to have a few extra bulbs (and fuses) along with us. There are few things more annoying (and embarrassing as well) as having all our beautiful new professional lighting equipment set up and ready to go for an important shoot, and then discover that one (or more) of our bulbs are not working (or misplaced)! So always keep extras around.

ALSO - make a practice of using a surge suppressor with all your photographic lighting equipment - just like we use with our computers. This goes for strobes, & fluorescents as well as halogen lights. The electrical surges and spikes do a great job of blowing our bulbs (and fuses as well). So to save yourself some time, money, and lots of irritation, be sure to use surge suppressors with your lights. You'll be glad you did. And you'll be sorry if you didn't (take that from someone who knows all too well;). Notice: Don't complain to us about bulbs not lasting as long as they should, or having them blow too often unless you plugged your lights into a surge suppressor! For your own good, use surge suppressors with all your photographic lighting equipment!

	USING modeling lights (on strobes): While the modeling light puts out only a small fraction of the strobe's actual flash output (the modeling light is meant to show you where, on your subject, the flash output will fall, as a guide to where the highlights (light areas) and shadows will be on your subject when you fire the strobe. This will aid us in placing the strobes in the right position for achieving the effects we're after).
Whenever we have a HALOGEN modeling light bulb, the modeling bulb gets VERY hot, and should be turned on only when you're setting up your lights, and making your exposures, then turned off until it's needed again. Because the halogens get so hot (when left burning for an extended period), every strobe that comes with a halogen modeling light also has an electronic "heat detector" built in, as a safety precaution. So whenever the system gets too hot, the heat detector will automatically shut down the whole system, until it has cooled off and is safe to use again (if the heat gets past a certain point, the fuse will blow to protect you and the circuits). Consequently, whenever you may leave a halogen modeling light on too long, your strobe will turn itself off for a while. If this happens, don't worry about it, just wait for 10 or 15 minutes, and when it's cooled off, it will start to work again. You also might want to turn off any non-halogen modeling lights whenever you don't need them, and this practice should protect against your strobes overheating on you. Incredible SALE on New Continuous Lights and Kits ! Starter Kit Two Light Kit Three Light Kit New! Four Light Kit Sale $89! Sale $189! Sale $289! Sale $399!
BTW, in the language of photography the word "modeling" doesn't mean someone who is acting as a model, it's photospeak for the way light and shadows fall upon our subjects. A common comment we hear in portraiture, for example, might be: "Is the modeling correct on our subject's face?" or "How's the modeling when I move the strobe a foot to the right?" Consequently, the "modeling" light shows us where the flash from our strobes will illuminate our subjects, before we fire our strobes. But don't fret if your strobes don't have modeling lights; pros have been making fabulous pictures using strobes without modeling lights for half a century! It's just like owning a car without air conditioning - it will get you there just as well as one with air, but it's just a little less comfortable during the trip.