Lighting Help Please :)

Holly Crouch

Holly Crouch

Member
I've only made a couple of videos so far but I just can't seem to get my lighting right..I've got a new camera recently and I'm not sure if I have it on the right settings (I'm a bit of a novice!) but I tried sitting by the window like I've seen a few youtubers suggest but it just seemed too yellow toned :( I really can't afford soft box lighting so I was wondering if anyone has any advice of the best places to sit/how to achieve natural looking light? Thank you in advance :) xx
 
Lighting, yeah. Natural lighting is best, but it's hard to find the right location in a room and right amount of light. While I don't have it all figured out yet, I can tell you to avoid bright days with wispy clouds, because the lighting change can be dramatic. Also, don't be in direct sunlight--the room should have natural light but not sun rays. One other thing, depending on your editing software, you can do miracles, including reducing or increasing brightness and color correction. I recorded a video at night recently, and the lamp shade cast everything in a horrible yellow color. (Is that how I live???) I was able to color correct it to an almost natural look in Premiere Pro. Even so, never recording at night again.
 
Ok, I'm no expert at lighting, I'm still trying to learn how to get it right myself, but here's something I find really helpful. Play with your camera's exposure setting, you can make your video brighter with just that. As for the color, you can adjust that with the white balance setting on your camera. I hope this helps you :)
 
I've been using an led light that I point away from me towards a white wall, or at the ceiling. This has given me some pretty good results... Not in the video I currently have uploaded I don't think... Pointing the lightat the wall diffuses it so it lands softly on your face, rather than pointing it directly at yourself.. The light I got cost about 20 quid[DOUBLEPOST=1415575005,1415574806][/DOUBLEPOST]Actually here is a link to the one I have...

OK, I can't do that but...
Googling this should do it..
NEEWER® 160 LED CN-160 Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel Digital Camera / Camcorder Video Light,
Hope this helps
 
Thank you all so much for the advice, it was really helpful :) I've tried really hard with the lighting in my latest video so hopefully people will be able to see an improvement :D xxx
 
With the light turning yellow, try changing your White Balance (Colour balance) setting. Depending on your camera this is done by either
  • placing something white (grey) in front of the camera and pressing the white balance button
  • changing the colour temperature.
    • this would look something like ~7000K
    • the higher the number the more blue you get. (spectrum from red to blue)
  • Changing the automatic setting to your situation. From Daylight to fluorescent/bulb ect.
With lighting set up, the more physical light you have the better. It's better to drop your ISO of F stop to compensate for a bright seen than to have a noisy shot.
Depending on what you are doing will determine what sort of set up would be best.
For vlogging a three point lighting setup is helpful.
  1. Key Light
    • Strong light in front and to one side of the subject
    • main light source, ie sun, closer/stronger lamp
  2. Fill Light
    • Less strong light to fill in the rest of the face
    • In front and on the other side of the subject
    • reduces the contrasty look
  3. Back/Hair light
    • Light behind the subject
    • Separates the subject from the background.
Most vloggers tend for soft light (less contrasty). This can be achieved by diffusing the key and fill lights. Hanging a white sheet between the light and subject will achieve this effect. As well as bouncing light of a wall, ceiling, foam board. (Bouncing = pointing a strong light at a surface that will reflect most of the light back on the subject).

Hope this helps
 
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