- Lighting is a critical element of any video
but fortunately it's not hard to get great results
with the right video lighting techniques.
In this video we have a full video lighting tutorial
to get your results fast.
Hey it's Justin brown here from Primal Video
where we help you amplify your business and brand with video
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and all the links to everything we mentioned in this video
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So let's jump into it.
Now lighting is a critical element of any video
but most people overcomplicate it
and it really isn't as hard as most people think.
Your lighting doesn't need to be perfect
you just need to focus on a few simple things
to get great results consistently.
In fact using these tips I'm about to run through,
it takes me less than one minute
to get the lighting setup in this studio
every time I go to shoot a new video.
I know you're thinking that's fine for you
you're a professional
but I've taught these techniques to a lot of students
who now get the same results
in about the same amount of time
and while we're talking lighting
make sure to drop a note in the comments below
with your number one video lighting tip
and check out some of the other responses
while you're down there too
because we always get some incredible ideas and insights
from the rest of the Primal Video community.
Okay before we get into the gear
and what lining you can actually use
it's important to start with the fundamentals.
The key fundamentals of lighting.
And this really is to light your subject first.
So whether it's a product that you're creating in the video
whether it's a person
whether it's yourself that is on camera
whatever the focus of your video is
light that first
and then use whatever additional lights you have
or have access to
to light the rest of the scene as a secondary
then it should be pretty obvious as to why
but that is the key focus of the video
and that is the part that really has to look good.
It's interesting we see a lot of people
worrying about the background and lighting the background
yet the light on themselves is really poor.
So flip that and light yourself first
to make sure that you look good
because you're the one
that's going to be creating the content
and delivering the content to your viewers.
Make sure they can see you
and that you look good in your videos
and your background and everything
it's all definitely a secondary.
Now that you've got that sorted
and you're gonna light yourself first
or the subject of your video first,
the next point is to start with what you have.
So if you don't have any additional lights
then use a window.
Use natural light.
Just sitting in front of a window
is going to give you much better light
than having your back to the window.
If you don't have any windows or it's dark outside
then use whatever lights you have around you.
It could be desk lights that you bring in.
It could be a lamp or anything that you've got
that you can use just to light up yourself
at the absolute minimum
then that will be much better than using no lights at all
Now we don't have access to any other lights
then you can use whatever lights you have on in your room
Now we're gonna be filming in a room
that has ceiling lights in there
and you don't have too many lights
then it's a good idea to have these ceiling lights on too
while you're filming to give your scene more light
and the only thing you've got to watch out for
is if you are going to be standing directly underneath
one of those ceiling lights.
It can cast some pretty bad shadows under your eyes
and on your face
and also on your body as well.
So you want to make sure that if you are filming indoors
and you do have the light on to give your scene more light
that you aren't positioning yourself
directly under one of those lights.
And just to show you what I'm talking about here
this room that I'm filming in actually has
four ceiling lights.
The one that I have turned off
is the one directly above my head
but if I turn it on now
then you can see we've got some shadows
from my neck and from my head on my shirt.
We've also probably got some darker areas under my eyes.
The whole thing just doesn't look that great.
So like I said in my case this is the light that I turn off.
and it's off.
If at all possible and in an ideal situation
you'll position yourself so that you are
slightly in front of your ceiling light
so that is lighting up the back of your
head and around to your shoulders
and not lighting you up from the front.
Now with all of this it's really important
to remember that lighting and video in general is an art
it's a creative process
and there really is no right or wrong to it.
There are some tips and things
that we're covering in this video
to help you get better results
but at the end of the day if you like the look
if you like the shadow
if you like the bags under your eyes,
then go for it.
If that's all you can get in your videos
based on your shooting scenario
then keep running with it because the content
at the end of the day is the most
important part and don't stress too much about your lighting
Some people will really like the look of having a harsh
shadow on the face where one side is lit really well
and the other side isn't
Others will like a more consistent look
or a more even lighting look
to their videos where there's not so
much of a harsh shadow.
Which is kind of like what we're going for here
but again there's no right or wrong with this.
It is a creative process.
So with all of this where should you
be positioning your lights.
Well as we said the focus of your videos is yourself.
So what I would suggest is that you get at least one light
or one light source.
A window.
Whatever it is you've got to light yourself up.
So what that means is
you're going to need to have that light source
somewhere near the direction that you're facing.
Could be right next to the camera
it could be on top of the camera
underneath the camera.
Somewhere around this area here to light you up
So that you lit up from the front
and that your face is lit well.
Now if you've got access to two lights
then you could use one of those lights
to light yourself up in the scene
and the second light to light up the background
to make that look a bit better
or you could use the two lights to light yourself up
and get a different look.
Because again you're the focus or the priority in the video
and having you lit well is the most important thing.
So if you are gonna use two lights
then what I would suggest
is that you actually separate the two
and move them a bit further away from your camera.
So in my studio setup here for example,
I've got two lights that are lighting me up.
I've got one off to the side here
and one off to the side here
and they're both probably on about a 45 degree angle
from where I'm standing.
Now what you would normally do here
if you're going to run multiple lights
is to have one primary light source
as the main light that is lighting you up.
The brightest light so in our case it's the one here.
This is the brightest light.
That's the main one that is lighting up this side of my face
Now to counteract some of that bright light
and to fill in some of the shadows on this side
I do have a smaller light
a less powerful light up in the corner here
that is lighting me up from this side.
I'm really filling in some of those darker areas on my face.
Now the other big thing that I've got in the room here
is a giant window off to the side.
Now depending on the time of day
and how bright it is outside,
this can obviously change things up
but having these two primary lights that are lighting me up
means that whatever else is going on outside
obviously the room will get darker and brighter around that
but I'm still lit consistently
because I'm the focus of the video.
Now something that you may or may not have already noticed
is that because it is so late in the afternoon
and I am filming with this window open
the light is changing a lot
and the light would have already changed quite a bit now
to the start of the video
but it doesn't really matter.
Only the background is changing
and the light on me is remaining pretty consistent.
Now that's all once again obviously personal preference.
I easily could shut the window
and have everything locked down
and have no changing variables like light changing outside.
That is all personal preference
And in a lot of cases you may want to do that
but personally I don't mind
having some natural light coming through the window
as long as it's not changing things too much
and making the videos distracting for the viewers watching.
Now there's another really popular lighting setup
called three-point lighting.
This is obviously we're using three lights
to light up your subject
but it's something that you'll see a lot in documentaries
on broadcast and in films
and even on a lot of YouTube channels as well.
So the idea here is you've got once again,
one really bright primary light
that's going to shine on the side of your subjects face
and then you have a second fill light
on the other side that's going to
fill in some of those darker shadows
and the third light is usually positioned
behind your subject and in a lot of
cases up high throwing some nice light
down to separate your subject from the background.
So it's lining up the back of their head
or the top of their head and the shoulders
to really give some depth
to again separate them from the background.
Wow while I'm a big fan of the three-point lighting setup
and we do use it a lot for any documentary shoots
or for a lot of corporate work as well.
It's actually not my go to recommendation
for setting up for content videos
or for videos like this for YouTube.
For most people and for most setups,
I think it's overkill
and you probably won't even notice
the subtle differences that the third light
or that even in some cases that a second light
is going to do for your video.
So don't let that stop you creating the content.
Now if you do want to get more advanced
with your lighting and you do have more lights to play with
then you can start to experiment
and adjust the different brightnesses
and play around with shadows
and really get creative
and once you've dialed in your look
and you're happy with how you look in your videos
then you can play around with the background
and get creative with that as well
but remember the focus needs to be on you
and the final tip on how to get everything set up fast
every time you're going to shoot
is to try and leave everything either exactly set up
the way that you want it
or almost exactly set up the way you want it.
So just a matter of walking in turning on your lights
making any minor adjustments or tweaks if you need to
and then you're good to go.
This is gonna save you a heap of time setting everything up
and packing everything up every time you want to shoot.
If everything is almost the way that you need it
and all you're doing is just adjusting the brightness
up and down to dial it in properly for that day
and for those lighting conditions
it's gonna make it much much faster for you to get set up
and get your content creation underway.
One other tip to remember when you're setting up your lights
is to position them so they're
slightly higher than eye level.
So whether you're sitting or standing
make those adjustments so that your lights
are just higher than your eye level
and that's going to give you
that nice little twinkle in the eyes
that you can see in a lot of videos.
So as always start with what you have.
Now if you don't already
then I suggest that you get at least one light
and it could be something like the Yongnuo YN-300 air light.
These are the lights that I'm actually using
in my studio here
and these are also might go to
portable travel lights as well
for any filming that I'm doing on the road.
These are a really nice soft light
and they can be powered by either batteries
or you can plug them into the wall
and power them that way as well.
Now if you do want some more recommendations
on both portable and studio lighting kits
then check out the link on screen now
featuring some of our top recommendations
and what we like about them and I'll see you soon.