Simple Cinematic Lighting Setup for YouTube - (Just 1 Light!)
Today I'm going to show you a simple cinematic lighting setup for your YouTube videos with just 1 main light.
Zhuyin very kindly sent me their Molus G300 to help make this video
Molus G300 https://amzn.to/3yqoHzZ
ZHIYUN Softbox https://amzn.to/3SwRGJk
Here is my Zhuyin referral link as well (Using this will help to support me and the channel)
The first step for having a good-looking shot is considering where you should be positioned.
This will depend on the size of the room you are filming in but ideally, you want to create as much depth within the shot as possible.
This can be done by placing yourself away from the background to create some separation.
If you are in a smaller room I would recommend filming into the corner, rather than against a plain blank wall.
The size of your room will also determine what focus length you can use for your lens choice.
I personally prefer to film at roughly 35mm.
If you are in a more confined space, you may want to use something wider.
A longer lens will compress the background more, creating more separation, but you will need a larger room for this.
If your lens allows you to, you can also open up your aperture to decrease the depth of field.
This will increase the separation between you and the background by keeping the focus more on you.
Once you have chosen your background, position and framing, You can now bring in your light.
This main light will be your key
To control the light as much as possible, I recommend shutting off any practical light fixtures that are in the room and blocking out any ambient light.
You can re-introduce some of these later if needed.
In order to create a nice soft soft-looking image
You will need a large light source
A good rule of thumb is the larger the light source the softer it is
You can also increase the softness by positioning the light as close as possible to you or your subject.
I've attached a large softbox to the Molus G300 which greatly increases the size of the light source as well as diffusing it.
Inside this softbox are two diffusion layers, this is great for creating that soft light source I'm looking for but it also reduces the intensity.
I personally prefer not to change my camera settings once I've got it set up and so I will need to adjust the power output on the light to compensate for this.
Because this particular light is 300w it's not much of an issue, if you were using something else with a lower output. You could increase your ISO for example instead.
I've also attatched a grid to control the light more, stopping it from spilling onto the background
To create more depth and contrast with the light.
Rather than placing it directly in front of you
I would recommend positioning it at roughly 45 degrees.
This creates some nice shadows and contrast on the face and stops it from looking so flat.
If this is too contrasty for you, you may want to consider adding a white bounce board to fill in some of the shadows.
At this point you can think about re-introducing some of the ambient or practical light fixtures that you turned off or blocked out previously.
And there you it, that's how you can use one main light to take your shot from looking like this, to this.
If you have any questions, let me know in the comments below and if you'd like to see more videos like this, you can subscirbe here or carry on watching one of these videos.
Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time