Easy Lighting Tips for YouTube

Have you been eyeing expensive lighting gear because you don’t like how your videos for YouTube or social media have been turning out? Are you comparing what you are making to other video professionals?

Those professionals probably have expensive gear. Their setups are extensive and their videos make them look like pros.

You don’t need all of that. You just need a few lights to get a great look. And this will work regardless of whether you are recording on an expensive camera or an iphone.

What the pros do is start in a completely dark room.

The 1st thing you need is something called a key light. It’s the most important light in your setup and will do most of the work illuminating you or the object you’re filming.

Another important tip is to diffuse your light. You use material to scatter the light coming from your key in order to soften it. It will make the shadows less harsh. 

Now the placement of your key light matters. Most cinematic lighting rules say to light yourself at a 45 degree angle and then use a softer fill light or reflector. 

This lighting can produce shadows and that will make it look very dramatic and that’s not the vibe of what we are doing here. So I have my key light directly in front of me.

Ok, now let’s spice things up! Take a look at your background. Are there dark corners? Try placing lights back there, maybe shining up from behind books on a bookshelf or something, in order to give the background some visual interest. 

Or you can use something called a practical. A practical is a light source that is visible in your shot. So you key light is not in frame, so it is not a practical. But maybe you have a floor lamp in the corner behind you, or your desk lamp turned on in the shot. These are practicals. Try turning them on - they can also make your background more dynamic without pulling attention away from the most important thing - you!

And that’s it! You don’t actually need a bunch of expensive, complicated lights stressing you out! Just a couple of lights, placed strategically, can give you all the illumination you need.

Leave a comment below and share your lighting setup. And if you’d like to see more, I hope you’ll subscribe.

Until next time! Thanks for watching!