Any good photographer will tell you the key to getting the perfect picture is good lighting! I’m not a professional photographer and I don’t have a fancy camera, but I do take some pretty awesome photos with only my iPhone, a couple different photo editing apps and as much natural lighting as the situation allows.

Most of the time, my photos come out pretty great, but I hate that in the absence of good lighting my photos sometimes suffer. My new LuMee Duo lighted phone case has helped me with that.

LuMee is a lighted phone case, with bold, LED lights that was designed by a Professional Photographer to give anyone the ability to take professional looking photos with warm, studio-quality lighting.

I’ve seen Lumee advertised on social media for a few years. There are even some big celebs (Kardashian clan) that love and endorse them. I’m not one to buy something just because a celebrity uses it, but when I saw a co-worker using LuMee, I gave more thought to getting one.

My co-worker is a photographer and said in the absence of using her big camera, LuMee can improve photos when taking pictures with her cell phone. She really liked hers, so I decided to get one. I was super excited when my mom got me one for Christmas. I was promptly designated as the family photographer on Christmas Eve once everyone saw how amazing my photos were coming out with my new LuMee case.

LuMee is super easy to use. The case has a button on the back that turns the lights on/off and even has a dimmer setting to adjust the amount of light given off. I have the Duo so there are lights both on the back of the case for regular photos and also on the front for taking selfies.

Once you turn on the light, simply hold down the on/off button and the lights will dim, let go when you have achieved the perfect amount of light for your surroundings. To increase the light, simply continue holding down the on/off button. It’s literally that simple.

LuMee has a port for charging that doesn’t cover up the phone’s own charging port, so you could charge both at the same time if needed. It takes about 30-45 minutes to get a full charge and will stay lit, if left on at full power, for up to 2 hours or for 36 hours at the lowest brightness. Intermittent use will last much longer. I usually only charge my case up once every couple of weeks. Typically, I’m only using the lights for a few minutes here and there for a couple quick pics, so the case battery doesn’t drain quickly.

You'll be suprised at what a difference LuMee makes in your photos. I’ve noticed LuMee works best on closer up photos, rather that far away photos. The extra light is great for foodie pics, selfies and other close up photos. If you stand too far away, the extra lights on the case can only travel so far to make a big enough difference.

Check out these side by sides. All of these photos were taken at the same time, in the same lighting and in the same place. The only difference is the ones on the left were taken with LuMee case lights turned on and the ones on the right were taken with no extra light. No other filters or edits were used at all either. Pretty impressive in my opinion!

I went with the pink and white marble case, but LuMee has a bunch of other super cute designs for all phone types. They run about $50-$70. They do have some pretty good sales throughout the year, especially around the holidays.

LuMee has several add on accessories too like matching ring holders, wallet pockets, etc. I’m not a big fan of ring holders, so I opted to buy a rose gold PopSocket elsewhere and its matches my case perfectly!

The case is pretty durable too. I’ve already dropped it a few times and the lights still work great and my phone was protected. So really you get protection and quality light!