Don’t know anything about lighting when it comes to filming your videos? Here’s an easy youtube lighting setup for beginners.
Lighting is important when it comes to filming your videos. Light can make your videos look more polished or more high quality. Bad lighting will destroy the quality of your footage.
I thought long and hard about what type of lighting setup I would focus on, and I decided to make this video on the lazy/cheap way to get the best lighting. Basically, I’m going to show you what I use for lighting.
You’ve heard of 3 point lighting, right? I’m not going to do that here. It’s time-consuming and I don’t have an official studio. So those lights are hidden away downstairs in a closet.
I like to film at my desk, which is in the corner of my game room. So, I only use 2 sources of light and that’s natural light from my window and a ring light.
YouTube Lighting setup for beginners
Natural light
Let’s start with natural light. It’s cheap and there’s nothing to set up or take down. The only bad thing about natural light is you have to be careful of the time and the weather. I try to film on sunny days either around 10 am to 12 pm or 1 pm to 3 pm. For me, the light stays consistently bright at that time.
The trick to using natural light is the light needs to be in front of you. If it’s on the side or behind, it’ll cast a shadow. It’s kinda like taking a selfie. You usually pose in front of the light source. Well, I hope you’re facing the light when you take selfies.
Ring Light
I love this ring light. I think it’s by Neewer, I’ll stick the link in the description box.
**This is an affiliate link**
It’s easy to set up, and it’s not in my way so I actually leave it set up next to my desk. Just like with natural light, you have to sit facing the light. What’s cool is you can change the brightness of the light.
You have to be careful because if you turn it up all the way, the light becomes harsh and casts a lot of shadow in the background.
I especially like to use the ring light when the room is too dark or I have to film when the sun isn’t up yet.
My lighting set up
For my lighting set up, I actually like to use a combination of natural light and the ring light. It’s convenient to film whenever I want to because I’m not too dependent on how bright the daylight is.
What type of lighting do you use to film your videos? Let me know in the comments below.
