Whereas incandescent light bulbs and other similar light sources known in the related art emit light in all directions, LED lamps can emit light in a single direction, and this is manifested in the problem of being unable to achieve light distribution characteristics satisfied by conventional headlamp designs. In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, an LED lamp for a light source of a headlamp can include an LED chip 2 in the vicinity of the focus of a projection means and a shielding member 7 covering a portion of the LED chip 2 in a formation allowing a light distribution characteristic suitable for a vehicle front-illumination light to be obtained when light from the LED chip 2 is magnified and projected in an illumination direction by a projection lens 10 or the like constituting the projection means. Accordingly, accurate light distribution characteristics can be obtained in a simple manner by projecting in the illumination direction using the projection lens 10.