lighting is one thing that can make a
huge difference in your videos so today
I want to show you very quickly the
cheap and easy lighting setup that I use
when I film videos in this room right
here often times when you're filming a
video it's easy to just take your camera
or go into whatever environment and just
start filming maybe try to get some good
shots but you forget that the lighting
makes a huge difference even something
like this right here there's a window
off to my side by closing the window I
completely change the feel of the
lighting by opening the window all the
way up the lighting changes yet again
it's taking me quite a few months but I
finally found a lighting setup that I'm
pretty happy with and when I film in
this room I mainly only use two lights I
use a Drake a silk ray 400 and a Drake
cast small on-camera light both of these
lights are bicolor so that means they
can be adjusted to be warm or cooler
depending on whatever color temperature
you need and I like this because they're
both portable they can be
battery-operated they can be operated
with an AC adapter and because they're
bicolor no matter where you take them
you know that you're gonna be able to
adjust the color to suit the mood that
you want specifically now even though
I'm using lights that are designed
specifically for video and everything
that I'm talking about today you can do
a lot of the same stuff just using what
you might already have like a desk lamp
or a floor light or something that's
already around your house I was able to
get both of these lights for pretty
cheap to still pray 400 which is the
bigger one I got for $99 on a Black
Friday deal I think normally its price
is about $200 and the smaller light I
got for $80 I think normally it's about
80 to 100 dollars I've seen it on sale
even as low as 50 sometimes now as I was
developing the look that I wanted for my
videos one thing that hit me was I
wanted it to kind of look like an
overcast day you know like when you go
outside and the sun is shining through
the clouds and everything is kind of
under this nice diffused lighting there
are no really harsh shadows anywhere
there's nothing that's really light or
dark everything is very soft and evenly
lit there are times when you might want
to use harsh lighting you're filming
like an interrogation scene or something
and it would make sense to have one
overhead light casting these really
dramatic shadows on your subject but for
the most part if you're doing a YouTube
video like this we're just talking to
the camera it's really nice to just kind
of have soft easy Pleasant lighting and
one of the biggest mistakes that people
make right away myself very much
included is when they get a nice new
light
they just kind of pointed up themselves
or at their subject and just start
recording and the problem with doing
that is the lighting is really
unpleasant it's really Glary it's really
harsh it's really bright people
sometimes squint the shadows are really
strong right now if I move my hand in
front of me you can kind of see the
shadow it's casting is very very soft
if the light is pointed directly at me
this shadow is gonna be very very harsh
and it's going to make things look
overall just kind of unpleasant let me
show you exactly what I'm talking about
so now I have both of the lights pointed
directly at me I didn't do anything but
go to them and turn them around and now
you can see the lighting is much more
harsh it is very dramatic there might be
a time that I'd want to use this kind of
lighting for a purpose but I can tell
you for me it's actually really hard
because I'm staring into these bright
lights so filming is more difficult
because my eyes that can barely see
what's happening and then also if I were
to raise my hands or move them a lot as
I tend to do because I talk with my
hands all the time you can see the harsh
shadows that get cast over my face so
how do you avoid that how do you use a
light without shining it directly on
someone the answer is you need to
diffuse your lighting so that it goes
from this to this and the way I'm
diffusing my lights is really really
simple it's actually really really
simple I found that in my room where I
film I like to sit in this corner
because it pulls me far away from the
background which means I can be nice and
clear and in focus and the background is
a little bit blurry I just like the way
that looks behind the camera are just
some white closet doors and so the
lights are just shining at those white
doors and the light is reflecting back
at me that means it's really easy for me
to look into the light I'm not like
totally blinded or anything and it also
means the light that's shining on me is
really soft and diffused just like
clouds on an overcast day so it gives me
the exact look that I want it's really
cheap really easy literally I just have
two lights pointed at some closet doors
that's how I'm lighting myself right now
as for everything behind me it's pretty
easy there's a warm light kind of coming
from the back of my head that's
literally just my desk lamp which is
there all the time and it just kind of
adds an extra bit of ambience to the
scene which I like the way that looks it
sort of highlights a little bit behind
me and then on the sides right here I
have two LED lights that can change
colors I like keeping them on blue and
kind of a pinkish color but you change
them to any colors that you want those
are like twenty twenty-five dollars on
Amazon each they're pretty cheap but
they work really really well for this
purpose there are people whose entire
career revolve around doing light
for film and video and photo and there's
so much science and experience that goes
into creating really great lighting but
if you don't have the time for that or
the knowledge for that a couple quick
little things just being aware that when
you go into a room not to use the light
that's just already there but to
actually take charge and control your
lighting maybe that means turning off
overhead light turning on a desk lamp
turning something to face a wall can
really really make a huge difference so
figure out wherever you're filming look
at what you can utilize in that space to
make your videos look as good as
possible and then make sure you're in
charge of the environment and you'll
have videos that look much much better
so thanks so much for watching this
delightful tutorial please let me know
what you think in the comments make sure
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thank you so much for watching I will
see you next time