How to Get the Perfect Lighting for Video

If you’re just starting out with video production, lighting your video shoot can be tricky. There is a big difference in how our eyes perceive light compared to a camera lens. Cameras need WAY more light to produce a quality image than you might imagine. But there are further nuances to light and shadow to consider when planning a video shoot. The biggest favor you can do for yourself is to prepare and plan properly. We’ll guide you through the process we use to get the perfect lighting for all your videos.

Step 1: Prepare for the shoot

Whether you’re doing photography or video, it’s a good idea to scout your location ahead of time. Consider the natural lighting entering through windows and casting shadows – be wary that weather can change quickly.

If you have an adequate set of lights (we’ll get into what qualifies as adequate shortly), it’s best to avoid natural light due to its volatile nature. Natural lighting can change in an instant if the sun decides to hide behind clouds, and for video, this can be a big issue as lighting changes from shot to shot.

The best shooting environment is one in which you have as much control over lighting as possible.

Step 2: Pick out your lighting options and types

Video lighting on a budget

At TechSmith, we have a drawer full of cheap clamp lights. At around $10 each, these lights are versatile and can be mounted in a variety of ways. Unfortunately, the lack of dimming control and diffusion can lead to harsh lighting.

There are a few types of lighting to be aware of as well. Light with no filter is known as hard light. Diffusion helps spread light evenly, creating soft light, and can be improvised even on a budget. So when working with clamps lights, we highly suggest using some type of diffusion material.

These lights can also be bounced off a surface like a wall, ceiling, or reflector to create soft light, which is infinitely preferable to blinding your subject and creating an unflattering image.

The mid-range lighting option

Sets of purpose-built studio lights can be acquired for $100-$500 with everything you need to set up. These studio lighting kits commonly use large florescent lights and include effective diffusion material.

Kits with included light stands are much better for quickly setting up lighting, and generally provide higher total light output. These lights often have a few switches on the back to control the number of lit bulbs, which provides a greater level of control over your total output.

The best lighting option

In the higher price range of video lighting kit options, it’s likely you’ll be paying as much for one light as you would for a whole mid-range kit. In turn, you’ll find many more fancy features, such as full range dimmers, wireless control, ability to change color on the fly, better diffusion and stronger output.

Before investing in these lights, it’s a good idea to rent them locally or online and ensure they’ll suit your needs.

If shooting video is something you plan to do on a regular basis, it may be worth the investment. But unless you have specific requirements for these fancier features, it’s a waste of money to invest in such expensive lights when something cheaper will do just as well for basic shoots.

Step 3: Set up 3-point lighting

The most common setup for lights is called 3 point lighting. This configuration consists of a key light, a fill light, and a backlight which can also be called a hairlight.

The key light should be the brightest of the three and provides the bulk of light to your subject.

The fill light eliminates shadows caused by the key light. Your fill should be less intense than your key so while it still eliminates shadows, but doesn’t a flat looking shot due to the fill and key lights matching too closely.

The backlight separates your subject from the background, creating depth and also preventing a flat looking shot. Your backlight can be hard light (no diffusion), as it won’t create shadows visible to the camera on the subject’s face.

3 point lighting will serve you well if you want to make YouTube videos, promo videos, webinars, and a variety of other shooting situations.

Step 4: Choose your light color temperature

Not all lights are created equal. Based on the filament in the bulb, lights can appear “cooler” or “warmer” on camera. This is perceivable with the human eye as well.

Consider how a doctor’s office looks (cool fluorescent light) compared to a comfortable living room setting (warm tungsten light.) This concept is called color temperature and can be measured on a scale of kelvin (see image below.)

If avoidable, it’s best not to mix lights of different color temperatures. If lights are mixed temperatures, it can lead to improper color balance which can lead to unnatural looking footage.

Step 5: Look out for glare

Glasses wearers, while generally considered to be amicable and friendly folks, can be your worst enemy when it comes to lighting.

Glare on glasses can be a big issue, especially lights with larger diffusion boxes.

One trick that helps with glasses is raising up your lights higher on their stands. If you have someone who can assist, have them raise the lights and look through the camera viewfinder until the light is no longer visible in the glasses lens. If raising the lights doesn’t help, try moving your key and fill lights farther out, while keeping them relatively equal to one another. In the 3-point lighting image above, your key would be closer to 3:15 and your fill would be 8:45. If your talent is comfortable with removing their glasses, that’s always a good last resort but certainly not always an option.

It’s best to accommodate your shooting subject as best you can before asking them to adjust their appearance for a technical reason.

Next steps

With the basics down, feel free to experiment with lighting that works for you.

Try adding lights to your backgrounds, shaping lights, adding gels, or try green screen!

#lightings