Developments in continuous and pulsed laser-heating techniques, and finite-element calculations for diamond anvil cell experiments are reported. The methods involve the use of time-resolved (5 ns gated) incandescent light temperature measurements to determine the time dependence of heat fluxes, while near-IR incandescent light temperature measurements allow temperature measurements to as low as 500 K. Further optimization of timing in pulsed laser heating together with sample engineering will provide additional improvements in data collection in very high P-T experiments.