Getting Good Cheap Lights For Your Home Studio
Getting Good Cheap Lights For Your Home Studio
An article by Todd Simpson
The age old question. "Why do vids sometimes seem too dark"? Usually it's from not enough lights 
So here is a quick and dirty list of some inexpensive L.E.D. (no heat produced, very low power consumption, etc.) lights you can add to your home studio setup. I'm using some of each :)
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 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 Here is a link to an example of a 6 pack of these with remote for U.S. $37.
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.
I have one of these bigger ones. These can run on their internal battery! So you can put them anywhere about U.S. $ 100 each.
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
Color Temperature
Power consumption is very low on these and they don't heat up the room they live in.
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 You can start having better light in your vids.
Here is a handy color chart to give a bit more insight:
Todd
