How to Setup Lighting for Video Conferencing

It is not always easy to get the hang of video conferencing, and this is especially true when you are taking part in a video interview. The failure to provide adequate lighting is a frequent oversight that occurs during virtual meetings.

You need to keep people's attention if you want to run a successful video meeting. And if no one can see you, you won't be able to accomplish that anyway. Good lighting makes any image or video captured by a webcam look its absolute best, and there are many best practises that you can follow to ensure that your video call appears professional and polished. Let's begin by ensuring that the Lighting for your video conferencing is optimal.

What Should be the Location of Light ?

Webcams will automatically start recording and will adjust themselves to the light source that is the brightest. If the light is behind you, then you are no longer the focal point of attention. You can prevent yourself from being backlit by orienting yourself so that you are facing a window or another source of light rather than away from it.

This expert advice from Wistia is one that we absolutely adore: if you don't have a good light source that faces forward, you can use your external monitor or laptop to open a white image or Word document and then use that as a light source on your face.

Lighting Equipment

Although professional lighting equipment is not required, this type of lighting provides the most flattering results when used in webcam settings. These tools will assist you in achieving the ideal light balance and fill, which, in turn, will help you appear more put together when viewed via webcam:

"Daylight" light bulbs provide lighting that is not only bright but also appears natural (no more yellow lamplights!).

Vloggers and models often use ring lights for webcams because they provide a light source that is more naturally balanced.

The key lights cast a strong spotlight on the subject being photographed and work well in conjunction with the side lighting provided by a window or another source of light to achieve full balance.

Diffusers of light help reduce the intensity of the lighting and can also reflect light to improve both fill and balance.

Test your setup

Be sure to give the lighting for your webcam a trial run before going live after you have finished setting it up. Launch an application on your Macbook such as Photo Booth, and adjust the lighting so that you look your absolute best in the picture.

A helpful hint: once you find a configuration that works for you, don't change it! When you make your next video call, you won't have to spend as much time as before setting it up.

Philips Non Dimmable

In the event that you are unable to position yourself in close proximity to a window or that window does not receive an adequate amount of natural light, your best bet is to recreate this scenario, which can be done in a few different ways. The first thing you can do is experiment with changing the bulbs in your desk lamp to LED ones.

According to Tan, if you use LED bulbs in your desk lamp, you can direct the light toward the wall that is in front of you. If the lamp were directed directly at your face, the light from the lamp would not be able to reflect off of the wall and create as large of a source as it would if it were pointed at the wall.

Tan claims that this arrangement will make the light somewhat softer and will spread it out evenly across your face to create an appearance that is more flattering. Van Winkle is of the same opinion, stating that "it's all about getting an even light directly on the face" and that the light should not come from an upward or downward angle.

Tao Tatronics

If you don't already have a lamp for your desk, you might want to think about purchasing this one from TaoTronics because it includes an LED light that is built right in. When he is on Zoom calls from his home office, strategic tech writer Jordan Bowman refers to it as a "makeshift ring light," which is another tool that the industry professionals recommend using. It instantly illuminates his face, which would otherwise be in shadow.

Because of the lamp, the lighting in his space was improved, and he wrote in his journal that "My Zoom background resembled an actual room," which allowed his coworkers to see that he was, in fact, present at the meeting. According to Bowman, it has seven different brightness settings and five different colour modes, which together can "solve pretty much every lighting problem you might have."

(Even though the CRI of the LED bulb in the lamp isn't listed in the product description, his experience with it suggests that, by tinkering with the brightness and the colour modes, you can find a glow that mimics the light that comes from natural sources.) Bowman also notes that in contrast to other desk lamps, both the head and the base of this one can be adjusted, which "makes it highly customizable" and makes it even simpler to position at the most flattering angle.