Video lighting is more important to video quality than a good camera. It’s a bold statement, and definitely one which goes against the grain of what electronics companies tell us. There’s always the latest camera you need which gives you more megapixels; higher resolutions; faster frame rates.
I’m not saying these things don’t improve the quality of a video. They do. But the thing which most dramatically makes a video look better is using video lighting in a professional set up.
Video lighting transforms spaces which don’t naturally look good on camera
I speak to many business owners who tell me that they’ve tried making social media videos themselves on their phones, but their content looks terrible. One of the biggest reasons is that phone cameras work best with daylight – so any videos filmed in an indoor space with no windows, or with lots of artificial lighting will normally be too dark.
But don’t give up hope. Professional video lighting can transform ANY space. I’ve filmed content in the dead of night before, and our lights were powerful enough to make the set look like the middle of the day.
Professional video lights don’t cause flickering or banding
We’ve all been on a Zoom call with someone, and there’s flickering on their stream – or black bands moving up and down the image. This isn’t caused by the camera, it’s caused the the LED lighting – and it can also be a problem when you’re using your phone to film as well.
Basically, ceiling LED lights have a refresh rate that the cameras can’t figure out. Video LED lights however don’t have this problem, which means your footage will look more professional with no distracting flickering.
Make sure you don’t look like you’re in the Simpsons!
I’ve mentioned that phone cameras work best with daylight – but what does this mean in terms of colour? Well daylight has a different colour temperature at different points of the day. It’s quite blue first thing in a morning, and then in the evening it’s more orange (it’s why filmmakers call the last hour of the day the Golden Hour).
This is called colour temperature, and just like daylight varies in colour, indoor lights do as well. Tungsten based lights have a very different colour to LED lights, for example. And if your camera can’t adapt to the colour your indoor lights is sending out, well quite frankly, you might end up looking like a Simpsons character.
With LED video lights, you can set the colour of the lights to a huge variety of colour temperatures. And then you can also set the camera to read that colour temperature, meaning your video colours look natural, like you’re just looking using your own eyes.
Video lighting makes you look really good on camera
Have you ever wondered why photographers use huge umbrella shaped softboxes? It’s not just to make them look more professional – it’s to diffuse the light, to make it softer, so that it’s falling on the subject evenly.
This means that diffused light is really complimentary, and makes you look great on camera. At VideoHQ we use the same big softboxes on our lights that photographers do.
It also means you’re not going to be squinting on camera because the light shining at you is too bright!
How video lighting ensures people are looking at you when you’re talking
Do you remember the BBC interviewee in South Korea who went viral after his two young children burst in on the interview?
Now I’m not saying that lighting or composition could have avoided this (only a proper lock could have really!) but it’s a great example of how what’s going on in the background can distract from what you’re saying.
So what is shot composition? It’s all about what your eye is naturally drawn to when you’re looking at a video. There’s a lot that goes into this – such as what’s in focus in the frame, but lighting is a huge factor as well.
When we film an interview, the subject is lit perfectly with that lovely, soft diffused light, and the background is much darker and out of focus. This means that when you’re taking, all eyes are on you, and people are listening intently to what you’re saying.
VideoHQ works with businesses across Staffordshire and the West Midlands, producing unmissable website and social media videos which grow their online presence.
We take our professional video lights with us on every shoot – adapting their set up to each location. Watch this video to see me talk through the equipment we use, and how we use it to get the best results for our clients.
If you want to find out more about how VideoHQ’s expertise and professional lighting could help you to create unmissable content at your business, get in touch for a free 30 minute consultation.
