Avoid Bad Lighting In Your Vids!, Here's how to add lights on the cheap!
Todd Simpson
Aug 24 2013, 12:21 AM
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The age old question. "Why do vids sometimes seem to dark"? Usually it's from not enough lights smile.gif So here is a quick and dirty list of some inexpensive L.E.D. (no heat produced, very low power consumption, etc.) iights you can add to your home studio setup. I"m using some of each smile.gif

I"m using LED mini spot lights in my home studio since they have spiff colors and they don't put out any extra heat smile.gif They are quite cheap on ebay @ about U.S. $5 each and sometimes free shipping too! And they come with a remote control to turn them on and off and change color to whatever. I tried the white light from them and it just looks bland so I picked blue and red smile.gif Here is a link to an example of a 6 pack of these with remote for U.S. $37.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/6pcs-GU10-3W-LED-R...=item3f287eff77
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I also ordered some of these lights and some stands. They are maybe not bright enough for stage though They work well for home studio lights though and run about U.S. 60 each. I've got two so far.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/290930381144?ssPag...984.m1497.l2649
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I have one of these bigger ones. These can run on their internal battery! So you can put them anywhere smile.gif about U.S. $ 100 each.

http://www.americandj.com/ProductDetails.a...;Category=L.E.D.

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So there ya go. Cheap lights!! Adding a few lights and experimenting with lighting can take your youtube vids / rec vids/ any vids to the next level!! And one more thing.

!!!!! Always try very very very hard to keep your BED out of the shot!!!!! I know it's a pain and you will have to rearrange your entire room to do it, but vids with gear in the shot look more pro and more like a home studio. Vids with beds/laundry/etc. just don't come off looking as good or pro.

Todd

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This post has been edited by Todd Simpson: Aug 24 2013, 12:26 AM
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SixStringSamurai
Aug 24 2013, 01:41 AM
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Great stuff, thanks Todd! As I start getting into making more videos this will surely help a lot smile.gif I'm glad you experienced Youtubers are here to offer advice!

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Blue Willy
Aug 24 2013, 02:53 AM
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Todd,

Great post here! Thank you!

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Todd Simpson
Aug 24 2013, 04:48 AM
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Happy to help smile.gif I looked in to my Crystal Ball and I see a Video Podcast series (youtube and through the iTunes store) in your near future. It's going to help drive traffic to your blog, which will in turn drive traffic to and serve as the backbone of your social media efforts. Good things are coming smile.gif

QUOTE (SixStringSamurai @ Aug 23 2013, 08:41 PM) *
Great stuff, thanks Todd! As I start getting into making more videos this will surely help a lot smile.gif I'm glad you experienced Youtubers are here to offer advice!



Any time! smile.gif I own examples of each of these lights and I can safely say they are each worth having and mercifully inexpensive smile.gif
QUOTE (Blue Willy @ Aug 23 2013, 09:53 PM) *
Todd,

Great post here! Thank you!

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Bogdan Radovic
Aug 24 2013, 11:35 PM
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Very helpful post Todd!

LED is the way of the future as there is so much less heat and power needed for these units. Also, it is very good for outdoor shooting as LED lights can work on batteries very nicely.

Thing to look out for is the temperature of the light. Standard color temperature of the lights for TV and video recording is 3,200 K. Of course, you can always do some color correction on your footage in post production, it is good to shoot the best possible footage at the source. I heard that some LED video lights can even vary the color temperature which is awesome.

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Todd Simpson
Aug 25 2013, 07:01 PM
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Well said!! The power consumption is very low on these and they don't heat up the room they live in. smile.gif
Light temp is a very important issue, for those new to lighting, the "temperature" of the lights can be thought of as either "daylight balanced" (blue/cool) or "Tungsten Balanced" (yellowish/warm)

The good news is that LED lights are not limited to one or the other. They can provide a wide range of color options unlike a regular lamp/bulb which has to be "gelled" (You put a see through color gel on the light itself). But honestly the precise details are probably more than you need to worry about for home vids.

Suffice to say, for CHEAP you can buy some LED bulbs that come with remote control to change color/dimmer settings and and point a few at your recording position and bingo smile.gif You can start having better light in your vids.

Here is a handy color chart to give a bit more insight smile.gif
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Todd



QUOTE (Bogdan Radovic @ Aug 24 2013, 06:35 PM) *
Very helpful post Todd!

LED is the way of the future as there is so much less heat and power needed for these units. Also, it is very good for outdoor shooting as LED lights can work on batteries very nicely.

Thing to look out for is the temperature of the light. Standard color temperature of the lights for TV and video recording is 3,200 K. Of course, you can always do some color correction on your footage in post production, it is good to shoot the best possible footage at the source. I heard that some LED video lights can even vary the color temperature which is awesome.

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


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Cosmin Lupu
Aug 26 2013, 08:13 AM
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QUOTE (Bogdan Radovic @ Aug 24 2013, 10:35 PM) *
Very helpful post Todd!

LED is the way of the future as there is so much less heat and power needed for these units. Also, it is very good for outdoor shooting as LED lights can work on batteries very nicely.

Thing to look out for is the temperature of the light. Standard color temperature of the lights for TV and video recording is 3,200 K. Of course, you can always do some color correction on your footage in post production, it is good to shoot the best possible footage at the source. I heard that some LED video lights can even vary the color temperature which is awesome.


My lights produce a great amount of heat and in the summer, it's a bit tense when using them laugh.gif if you know what I mean - so cool to know that there are other options as well! But the question is @Todd - how many of these lights would be necessary to create a well lit environment, suitable for GMC video lessons, for instance? If it's based on experimenting and the size of the room, I can understand, but I was asking thinking that might be you already know a bit more smile.gif

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Todd Simpson
Aug 27 2013, 06:34 PM
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Special thanks to our own WIKI MASTER FRAN!!! For adding the post I made about adding lights to your home studio to our spiff Wiki. There are TONS of resources in our wiki and it's growing every day smile.gif Here is the link!!


https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/wiki/inde...our_Home_Studio

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Headbanger
Aug 27 2013, 06:44 PM
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Great post Todd...very helpful!...If people still got hot...an electric fan always helps! biggrin.gif

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Todd Simpson
Aug 27 2013, 07:02 PM
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I hear ya!! I used to HATE my studio getting all hot because of the lights. LED lights are the way to go smile.gif

As for how many lights it would take for a typical instructor vid, I'd suggest going for the more pro level LED fixtures like the one on the bottom of my list. I've got one and it's quite bright. If you had three of them, you could do standard 3 point lighting and be fine smile.gif You can gel them if you like just using gels and a bit of tape.

The MEGA PAR run about $100 U.S. each and have an internal battery so you can use them anywhere and they run for several hours after a charge. Also, they have a "sound" function where they change automatically based on sound/music (little mic built in) so you can use them live and get lighting changes witthout a lighting person smile.gif

Here is a vid from the vendor with details.



QUOTE (Cosmin Lupu @ Aug 26 2013, 03:13 AM) *
My lights produce a great amount of heat and in the summer, it's a bit tense when using them laugh.gif if you know what I mean - so cool to know that there are other options as well! But the question is @Todd - how many of these lights would be necessary to create a well lit environment, suitable for GMC video lessons, for instance? If it's based on experimenting and the size of the room, I can understand, but I was asking thinking that might be you already know a bit more smile.gif

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


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Rammikin
Aug 28 2013, 11:03 PM
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QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Aug 23 2013, 11:21 PM) *
I"m using LED mini spot lights in my home studio since they have spiff colors and they don't put out any extra heat smile.gif They are quite cheap on ebay @ about U.S. $5 each and sometimes free shipping too! And they come with a remote control to turn them on and off and change color to whatever. I tried the white light from them and it just looks bland so I picked blue and red smile.gif Here is a link to an example of a 6 pack of these with remote for U.S. $37.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/6pcs-GU10-3W-LED-R...=item3f287eff77


Those are just the bulbs, right? What kind of a fixture are you using with them?

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This post has been edited by Rammikin: Aug 28 2013, 11:06 PM
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Todd Simpson
Aug 30 2013, 05:42 PM
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The ones at the top of the post are just bulbs yes smile.gif They work an ANY standard light fixture which is part of what's so handy about them. I have 5 of them in a multi head lamp which is very handy for home studio use. Each one is on a flex/goose neck and the fixture itself is only about $20.

Attached Image

QUOTE (Rammikin @ Aug 28 2013, 06:03 PM) *
Those are just the bulbs, right? What kind of a fixture are you using with them?

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