Illuminating Brilliance: A 2024 Guide to Creative Lighting Tips for YouTube Videos

Creative Lighting Tips For YouTube Videos – How To Guide

What makes a YouTube video stand out? For a video to stand out from just being a basic video to a great video depends on numerous factors coming together, and one of the most notable factors will always be great lighting.

Great lighting will immediately improve any video, and that’s why many content creators need to pay close attention to their lighting setup before recording any video. Regardless of whether you have a limited budget for lighting for your YouTube videos, there are ways to make the most of what you have to get the best lighting for your YouTube videos every time you shoot.

If you are on a limited budget for creating YouTube content, and looking for ways to improve the quality of your YouTube videos, this Creative Lighting Tips For YouTube Videos Guide will help you turn basic-looking videos into great-looking videos.

Creative Lighting Tips For YouTube Videos

Creative Lighting Tips For YouTube Videos - How To Guide 2022

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Zero Lighting Gear

Lighting Tips For YouTube Videos – Let’s just say that you want to start creating video content for your YouTube channel, but you don’t have a light kit, how can you do that?

While shooting video with no lighting gear might not be a perfect setup, there are ways to utilize the natural lighting from a light source like the sun to help you achieve adequate lighting.

The key to using natural lighting from the sunlight shining through a window if you are shooting indoors is to make sure you set yourself so that you are facing the brightest window in your home (or office, or wherever you’re making your video).

From there you would position your camera on the windowsill or on a tripod stand between the window and you. While this type of configuration may not be the perfect lighting setup for a beginner vlogger or content creator unfamiliar with lighting techniques, it will do the job you need. 

Here is a video to explain how to use natural light without a lighting kit:

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One Light Setup

Lighting Tips For YouTube Videos – Depending on the amount of funds you have or the space limitations you may have, you might be only able to use one lighting source to light YouTube videos. If you are in this situation, adding a softbox to your video equipment is probably your best option in terms of lighting for YouTube content.

The traditional way to use a softbox would be to arrange it to one side of the camera, either at the ten o’clock position or two o’clock position of the subject and make sure that the softbox is slightly raised. To keep the light soft and even, you will want to use the biggest light, or diffuser, that you have, and keep it tight to your subject. 

Creative Lighting Tips For YouTube Videos - How To Guide 2022

If it seems contradictory that a closer light source equals softer light, keep in mind that closer also equals bigger or broader. A larger light source is softer because it allows light to reach your subject from more angles, resulting in a more equal illumination, like a ring light. Dim light will result from moving a light source further away from your topic.

You’ll get a lot of light falling off if you put your subject close to the light source. As a result, the background will seem dark and shadowy in comparison to the subject. Move the light away from your subject if you want more of the backdrop to be lighted. If you do this, keep in mind that you’ll need to increase the light’s intensity to get the same brightness on your topic.

You can also achieve the Rembrandt lighting effect with just one light in your YouTube video lighting setup. Instead of placing the light at ten or two o’clock, place it closer to nine or three o’clock to the subject. With a darker feel on the shadow side, this will give additional drama to your scenes.

Light your subject directly from above to create a melancholy scene, such as in an interrogation room or a prison cell. This is also an excellent technique for photographing products.

Try it out and let us know what you think!

Two Lights Setup

How to light your youtube videos It’s critical to ensure that both lights are set to the same color temperature before doing anything with them. Getting the white balance correct with one light at 5500K, which is roughly the temperature of daylight, and the other at 3000K, which is the temperature of tungsten lighting, will be extremely difficult, and your subject may appear slightly inhuman. What you choose will be determined by your aesthetic, but similar settings should be used!

In a two-light arrangement, you’ll almost certainly use a softbox as the main light, just like you would in a one-light setup. You will, however, add a tiny light to the mix to help lift the shadows. 

Creative Lighting Tips For YouTube Videos - How To Guide 2022

A smaller light is placed on the opposite side of the softbox in the conventional two-light configuration.

To assist balance out the shadows cast by the main light, the most logical spot to position your fill light is on the other side of the camera from the main light, but set to a lower intensity. Without the backlight, this is essentially a three-point lighting configuration.

However, you can be inventive with your lighting. To create a rim lighting effect, you might place your second light behind the subject. You may also use it to light up the background if that’s what you want. Don’t be hesitant to experiment with your lights to generate diverse effects, such as by incorporating different light modifiers.

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Three-Point Lighting Setup

Lighting Tips For YouTube Videos – One of the most typical lighting setups for YouTube videos, photographers, and filmmakers is the three-point lighting configuration. It consists of the key light, which is positioned between 20 and 45 degrees from the camera, a fill light, which is usually positioned on the opposite side of the main light from the camera, and a backlight, which is positioned behind the subject and so provides depth to the image.

Film Lighting

However, there are numerous ways to experiment with three-point lighting. Your primary and fill lights don’t have to be at a specific angle from the camera, such as 30 degrees. For a dramatic effect that helps to showcase textures, get even closer to 90 degrees. You may also experiment with the angle and strength of the illumination to see how it affects the overall sense of the scene.

Additional Lighting Setups To Consider

How to have good lighting for youtube videos Regardless of how many dedicated lights you have, there are several extras you may employ to add interest to your scenes.

Extra diffusers or reflectors may be needed to keep things gentle or to bounce light into darker places. Light may be directed more precisely with honeycombs and barn doors. In this manner, you may keep regions in the shadows that you want to remain in the shadows without compromising the softness of the light you have.

Using home lights to light the background is a cheap and simple technique to add variety to your background in particular. Fairy lights, for example, can generate lovely bokeh, or a conventional or table lamp with a colored bulb or a unique shade that throws shadows. You may make a number of different versions for your videos by introducing a light that precisely lights your background. 

For starters, how about using a gel to change the hue of the background light? After that, you can give the background whatever mood you desire.

Invest In A Inexpensive Lighting Kit

Gobos are stencils that are placed in front of a light source to create shadows on a scene or backdrop. If you wanted to, you could project a certain design onto your backdrop. Alternatively, you could utilize a gobo to make something more abstract, such as streetlights falling through window curtains.

There are so many options to let your creative side truly go wild. That goes for all of your YouTube video lighting, not just gobos!

Related Article: Essential Filmmakers Guide – Building A Film Gear Kit For Less Than $1000

What kind of lights do youtubers use

Once you’ve found the right setup, make sure you get the look you want and try to remember how you did it so you can replicate it in all of your videos. 

It will take some practice and watching a lot of videos before you can finally choose the best one. Once you’ve found a look you like, take a picture of your entire setup so you can replicate it later. If you want to know what kind of lights do YouTubers use, here’s some examples below:

1. Experiment with various lighting setups. Use a variety of lighting angles, combinations, and amounts. Experiment with it until you find something you like. It’s the only way you’ll ever learn. 

2. Use an umbrella light for a natural light look that isn’t overly complicated.

3. For better aesthetics and a more artistic look with shadows, use a softbox

4. Use a ring light to brighten your face and remove all shadows, which is ideal for makeup work. 

5. Consider your surroundings. You can also use light to make the background appear lighter than you or your subject.

Summary

When it comes to Creative Lighting Tips For YouTube Videos, there are so many choices for any content creator to turn a basic look into a great look that will have a viewer want to come back for more.

The key to lighting for video for any skill level is to understand the different types of lighting.

Whether you are shooting in a professional studio, or work space at home, if you are working with limited money for video equipment, it’s important to learn as you go and play around.

Eager to learn more?

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About the author: Trent (IMDB Youtubehas spent 10+ years working on an assortment of film and television projects. He writes about his experiences to help (and amuse) others. If he’s not working, he’s either traveling, reading or writing about travel/film, or planning travel/film projects.

Creative Lighting Tips For YouTube Videos - How To Guide 2022

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