Lighting for YouTube videos

[Michael]

My girlfriend is getting some proper lighting soon hopefully so she can make her YouTube videos look better and of course light herself up correctly and make videos without worrying about how poor the lighting is outside on rainy dull days (almost every day in the UK in Winter) and so she can also record at night without the awful grainyness that spoils many videos on YouTube.

She's getting some continuous 3 head softboxes which should work great. She was considering these from here:

http://www.smick.co.uk/sonline/3-head-continuous-lighting-kit/prod_428.html

Which are Micansu, they do look excellent quality but theyre quite expensive and we found a cheaper alternative for something which looks like the same but obviously a different brand here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120714490227?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

That's from Rocwing, I dont have any experience with either brands but for the price it will probably be that one we go with plus you get a bag without having to pay anything extra.

I was wondering what lighting do people use here for their videos, do you just rely on sunlight/house lightbulbs or do you have proper lighting equipment? If so, what kinds of lighting equipment do you have and how much did they cost you? Anyone here made their own DIY lighting equipment?

 

[Michael]

Just a quick update she ended up getting it and the kit is so professional and enjoyable to use, I had a right mess on setting up the boom arm on the headlight/backlight but figured it out eventually. It really works well in daylight and pitch darkness and I am very jealous I aint going to really be using it myself

 

[Neakiaro]

"the kit"?

 

[Michael]

"the kit"?

Yes it is a lighting kit. She went with the Micansu kit in the end as we found one only used once on ebay which was one great find.

 

[MrLionProductions]

I have a kit very similar but my boom arm broke almost instantly so now just have 3 straight stands but the lights work very well especially for green screen work.

 

[Michael]

That is something she could be getting soon but we dont have any more lights to illuminate it properly, youre meant to have 3 continuous lights on the subject, key, fill and headlight and then light up the backdrop evenly which will take another two softboxes, it seems the best bet would be to buy some very cheap ones just for lighting the backdrop up.

Dont get me started on them boom arms When she got it through I set up the others fine, started trying to get the boom arm fitting to go on top of the spigot (I am sure its called that) and it just didnt want to go through the hole for it, I ended up forcing it through the hole its meant to fit through and then going on to tightening it but it seems like the screw is always at an angle and I am still unsure if that's how it is meant to go.

What size backdrop stand are you using there and where do you record? I am talking about in your pickup lines video. It looks like you have loads of space, something which we really lack, our bedroom is turning into a recording studio but with more studio than bedroom left

 

[MrLionProductions]

its all about the editing effects, in that video the girl is also played by me and was recorded seperate on the same green screen then i can move the subjects in the video editing. I just use green fabric pinned on the wall. cost about 20usd, its about 8 feet wide and 8 feet long with about 3 feet on the floor for when i need feet shots too. Check out my other channel Here, i have a tutorial of how i did green screen for my pick up line video. you really dont need as much light as you would think if your editing software is good at green screen, i use final cut pro x and i only use 2 24x18 softboxes and comes out fine, i think.

 

[Michael]

I will check that video out in a bit, it looks very professionally done to be honest, I have seen people with parts of themselves missing and problems with shadows when using a green screen but whatever you're doing its working well.

 

[Caleb Calamari]

I'm on a looooow budget so I came up with a fairly inexpensive solution to my lighting problems. I went to a hardware store and bought two 12 foot 3/4" PCV/plastic pipes, four corner joints, three "T" joints, plastic cutters, a halogen bulb, and a lamp that has a flexible grip at the end. I cut up the first pipe and arranged a square base with the corner joints, put "T" joints in the middle of two opposing sides, put a "T" joint in the center, and attached two pipes from the "T" joints on the sides to the "T" joint in the center. Then I stood the other pipe up in the center "T" joint and clamped the lamp to the 12' pipe (I had to trim a few feet off the top) and viola! It worked so well I duplicated it and now have an effective, cheap, easily transportable, dual lighting system. I'll try to put a "how to" video up about it soon.

 

[Werewilf]

I try to use natural light, I turn on my house lights if i need to though.