The YouTube trend has been rising exponentially over the past few years. With high-speed internet connections becoming cheaper and more widely accessible, various creators have reserved their little corner on the internet in the form of a YouTube channel. They say that visuals are more influential than text or audio.

The age-old popular idiom “A picture speaks louder than words” is gradually changing to “A video speaks louder than pictures or words.” Nowadays, everything is available on YouTube. Be it a food recipe, a tutorial, a product review, or any other content that you might just “Google,†it is just a “YouTube search” away.

More than we like to consume content on YouTube, it might be worth thinking about what all it takes to create a piece of content for YouTube. Shoot a video using a camera and then upload it. Really? Is it that simple? Well, it is not. Creators spend hours or even days preparing a YouTube video. Shooting the video might be the easiest step. But tuning the sound, adjusting the lighting conditions, cutting the unnecessary scenes, merging similar clips, and editing the video quality tedious tasks.

We will now be looking at the top five best lighting equipment for YouTube videos so that you, as a creator, do not have to worry about low lighting in your videos anymore.

Softbox Lighting

A softbox is primarily a translucent box that can be fit over the studio light. Softboxes come in different shapes and sizes and are useful to improve the lighting conditions in your YouTube videos. Softboxes work by diffusing and filtering harsh glares produced by the light bulbs inside the studio light.

This process helps to reduce any sharp beams of light and scatters the light all over the room. It aids in projecting a soft and almost shadowless beam on the subject to be focused on.

Most softbox kits contain two units inside the packaging. Having two units allows the user to place each of the units on different sides of the subject.

You should buy softbox kits with large softbox units to cover more areas of the subject. It is also a good idea to combine the softbox with other lighting equipment such as a ring light to further improve the video lighting.

Many softbox kits available in the market have dimmable lights. It is an efficient purchase as it helps the creators to adjust the amount of light in their videos. They have different lighting temperatures to set the light according to the mood of the video. They also come with a handy remote control that allows you to change the lighting settings without moving from your spot. We’ve found some great picks on Amazon.

Ring Lighting

This lighting equipment is beneficial for vloggers and makeup artists. It is essentially a light bulb or a panel made in the shape of a ring placed around the camera or a mobile phone. It helps to flatten out the light and spread across the object to be focused, which is the creator’s face in most cases.

You can add a snap-on filter to change the light’s color and temperature emitted by the ring. You also need a stand where you can place the ring and your camera. You may need a softbox to make the lighting more even and free from shadows in some cases. Moreover, it is advisable to use extra bulbs with the ring to provide a brighter lighting effect to your videos, but it is optional.

For the best ring lights, see our article here.

LED Lighting

LED lighting is a panel that consists of several LED lights. It is one of the most convenient methods to improve your video lighting because it is easy to use and carry. 

Unlike tungsten, these lights remain relatively cooler even when they are on. The best part about using this LED arrangement is that it has a long life and does not consume much power. So, apart from being portable and helpful for your videos, it is gentle on your electricity bill too.

Generally, two panels help to improve the lighting on one object. The general setup of these panels would be more or less the same as in softbox kits. We’ve found some great choices on Amazon.

3 Point Lighting (Ring Light and LED Lighting)

Point lighting is a sound lighting system for YouTubers, and it is trendy nowadays. As the name suggests, it consists of three lights – the main light, the fill light, and the background light. The main light is generally the most intense of all as it focuses on the main object. The fill light’s function is to fill up all the shadows left by the main light to provide more even lighting to the video. The role of the background light is to make the video background appear different from the main object.

Natural Lighting

YouTube creators are so busy looking for expensive equipment to make lightning better in the videos that they generally tend to forget about the sun, which is a natural source of light. You can set up your studio so that direct sunlight falls on the subject via windows. Sunlight naturally wraps around the subject and creates an evenly lit environment.

You can use a reflective mirror to assist in diverting the light towards your subject. To achieve this, you will need to invest in a stand tall enough to hold your reflector at the right height and angle.

Conclusion

With this, we come to the end of our list of the top five best lighting equipment for YouTube videos. Ensuring adequate lighting in your videos is essential as it makes your videos look professional and compels the viewers to stay longer on your video.

Adequate lighting in your videos ensures that your subject is visible and your message is delivered as it should be. So, it is vital to invest your time, money, and efforts in improving your video lighting so that more people watch it and you, in turn, enjoy more likes, comments, views, and the most important of all, more profits.