Best light setup for shooting great YouTube videos

With the availability of affordable internet plans in India, the popularity of video platforms like YouTube has reached new heights. Most of us love spending hours watching YouTube videos, and creating content for the platform has become as serious as a full-time job. But competition is fierce, and to stand out in the crowd of creators, you not only need good quality content, but also equally amazing production quality.

To up the video quality, most think of buying an expensive camera, but one other equally important aspect to great production quality is lighting. Let’s check out different kinds of lighting setups, and how to use them for shooting great YouTube videos.

Three-point lighting setup

This is an industry-standard approach that has been used in a variety of industries such as theatre, photography, film, and more. As the name suggests, this setup uses three sources of light to illuminate what is in the frame. These include the ‘Key Light’, ‘Fill Light’, and the ‘Backlight’. All three lights have a specific purpose, but primarily focus on illuminating what’s in the foreground. This works well for YouTube, since most videos have a subject hogging the frame.

Key light

This acts as a primary source of light, which shines directly on the subject and illuminates it. It is placed behind the camera, and is the brightest source of light in your whole lighting setup. You can play with the mood of your video by tweaking the strength, angle and colour intensity of this light.

When shooting YouTube videos, it is recommended not to use any harsh lights, as they will create sharp shadow lines on the subject. For instance, a normal house bulb is best avoided unless you can dim/disperse its intensity. You can check out lights from brands like Godox, which are best suited for videos shoots.

Fill light

This light, as the name suggests, fills the shaded areas of the subject with a soft and low intensity light. It is often placed at a side angle and at a lower height when compared to the Key Light. Even the brightness is usually kept at up to 50% intensity of the key light.

Not using fill light can create a contrast-heavy video with a visible distinction between light and shadow areas. Fill lights tend to be smaller in size, and you can opt for lights from brands like Godox, and Hiffin to name a few, which are available at Croma.

Background light

These are traditionally called Backlight, Rim light or Shoulder light, and are placed behind the subject. Their main function is to create a sense of separation between the foreground and the background. You can play around with the placement of these lights, giving you a chance to add a unique look and feel to your videos. One can either opt for single colour or RGB strips to really make the videos pop. Head over to Croma for background light options from brands like Godox or Hiffin.

Lighting is something that drastically impacts the overall mood, feel, and emotions of your videos. A good light setup will not take attention away from the subject, but will actively help you convey more than just the surface-level implied message.