How to Light Your Vlog

Get the perfect lighting to kickstart your own studio setup for vlogging with 4 different possible lighting setups, using ring lights, standard LEDs, and the sun!

Lighting will help to boost the production value of your vlogs. The quality of light that you get on your face is very important. A larger softer source is actually the best option. Many people get smaller lights, but they are too harsh and too directional. I really like larger sources because it gives you a more well-rounded look. So let’s talk about how we can set up some good lights.

Window Light

We’ve got Natalia (@bergernaty) here with us today as our model. Now, this first setup is really simple, just turn your whole setup to face the window that has outside light. We have this beautiful natural light that hits her face. The only problem with window light is that the light changes as the sun goes down.

Important Tip: Set your studio up in front of a north-facing window to prevent direct sunlight from hitting your face. To get a soft, non-directional light you don’t want to face the sun!

Ring Light

We got our Ring Light, Boltzen Cassiopeia Slim Folding Daylight 125 Watt Ring Light LED from CAME-TV, you can get yours here.

Main reason I’m a huge fan of the ring light is that it’s a controllable light source, which means I can shoot whenever I want!

The second reason is that it just lights the face beautifully and since it’s a circle, there are no dark shadows anywhere on the face. It circles around the camera to really provide full coverage.

It’s also a collapsible light, so you can travel with it.

The back has a really great dimmer on it that allows you to adjust how powerfully you want the light to be. We only have it set to 1/3 of the power because it’s a really strong light.

You can also put the light in front of the computer to create a nice lighting for anything you might be filming there.

Another thing that really helps with the ring light is that it’s a large size, which creates a large soft area and it’s softened on the front. You don’t want a light that has hard direct LED lights, but you want to look for something that has diffusion all the way around.

Also, this ring light is a very thin and small format, whereas a softbox is going to take up a lot of space and harder to set up. Overall, an easy light to work with because of the ease of the setup and just it’s lightness.

Bounce Light

The third option is that you can use it to bounce light off the wall. Instead of bouncing it just at the wall, we are using the V-Flat World Foldable V-Flat, which helps to bounce more light because it’s just plain white.

Even with the ambient light in the room, it still does a great job of lighting her face. The only problem with this light is that it’s very low in power, and it’s being supported by ambient light.

So if we take the large ring light to bounce light, it’s going to open up the room a lot more. When we take a look at the footage, it gives us a lot of wrap. Wrap is when light is distributed equally in all directions.

Bouncing the light off the wall looks a lot better than aiming it directly at your face because it softens the light.

Doing Green Screen

How about if you are vlogger and you want to try your hand at green screen? Let’s take a look at how we can do it.

This green screen is very close to her because we are using the ring light to light her face and the screen, so it comes from the same light source. There is a little shadow that her body is casting onto the screen. However, it’s a soft enough shadow that it should key out without any problem.

You can put her in the woods, in the mountains, anywhere we want! With the green screen the opportunities are endless. It is just something fun to use in your vlog to help you get creative.

There you have it, 4 different ways to light yourself in a vlog studio setup or if you need to do a computer skype call. In order to increase the production value of your vlogs and also just look good on camera, you need to get a good light source on your face. Preferably, a large big soft source like a ring light!