Get Rich Blogging. Zoe Griffin
set, you’ll have noticed the amount of lighting equipment they have. A set designer has taken the time to create the perfect set, and the correct lighting ensures TV audiences can see every single detail of the set and the people on it. You don’t need to invest in the same kit used by the professionals, but you do need to ensure you have a couple of extra lights in your room so that your face and body are well lit. Darkness is unflattering. You’ve spent time thinking about what clothes you’re going to wear and how you’re going to do your hair, so you must use lighting to ensure that viewers can see you in all your glory. Darkness also means dullness, and a dark set can destroy the atmosphere of a video or hurt a viewer’s eyes as they squint at the screen trying to make out what’s going on. Both of these will put the viewer off from subscribing to your channel.
The type of lighting you need depends on how close you will be to the screen. Beauty vloggers tend to do a lot of close-ups, so they need to use just one light source. This tends to be a ring light. A ring light is a hollow circle of light, within which your camera sits. Ring lights project light exactly where you need them: since beauty vloggers tend to be looking at the camera when they’re talking, the light around the camera illuminates their face perfectly. You can always tell when a vlogger has used a ring light as there is a ring reflection in the irises of their eyes. Have a look at your favourite beauty vloggers and see if you can spot it. Established vloggers Vivianna Does Makeup (youtube. com/ viviannadoesmakeup) and Lily Pebbles (youtube.com/WhatIHeartToday) have both made videos where they talk about using a ring light. Lily Pebbles says: ‘One of the main things I like about the ring light is how small and easy to move around it is. As well as being small, the light it gives is very flattering and you get that diva light circle in your eyes (if you want it). I now use this all the time instead of a softbox or another lamp.’
Ring lights can vary in price, but you don’t need top-of-the-range gear at the start of your vlogging career. All you need is a ring light that specifies it’s set to 5500K or 6500K. This means the ring mimics natural light as opposed to giving off a yellowish or beige tinge like a lightbulb or a lamp. Bright white lights are much more flattering than darker yellow bulbs. Look on Amazon or eBay for a good deal and you should be able to get a decent-quality one for less than £100.
If you are going to be some distance away from the camera or moving around, then you’ll need more lighting to illuminate different parts of your set. These lights should be set up in a way known to the filmmaking trade as ‘three -point lighting’. This sounds very technical, but is a fancy way of reminding you to place your lights in a triangular shape around the set. You want a light off to each side and one in front of you. However, the triangle should be angled so the tip is not directly in front of you. Your three lights need to be placed as follows.
First light: In front of you to light your face but slightly to the right side.
Second light: Directly to the left side of you but slightly in front.
Third light: Directly to the right side of you but slightly behind you.
The light in front of you will reflect in your eyes and the light behind you will give depth to the video. The other side light should help to fill in and eliminate shadows.
It’s vital to use the same type of light for each of the three points, e.g. three desk lamps or three specialised photography lights. This is because different gear emits different coloured lights – some are warm, some cool and some fluorescent. You will get some odd effects if you mix warm lighting with cool lighting.
In addition, you might want to consider using a softbox, which is a device used to diffuse light by bouncing it from a light surface (usually white or silver fabric). The diffuse light given from a softbox is very flattering and helps to eliminate shadows.
It doesn’t matter what you use – lamps, softboxes or LED lights – as long as the three lights are the same. Use what’s available in your house or what you can borrow from another vlogger to keep costs down at the start. You can upgrade once money is coming in from advertising and other sources.
If you want to check that you’re applying three-point lighting in the best possible way, you could do a little experiment. Start by filming a short video with no additional lighting. Then film with one of your lights on, two of your lights on and then switch on all three. You should notice the quality of the video is best when all three lights are on and that it’s a big improvement on no lighting at all, even if you’re just using three adjustable desk lamps.
SOUND
Now you’ve worked out how to look the best you can on screen through a clear shot and adequate lighting, make sure that viewers can hear what you’re saying.
The quality of the in-built microphone on modern cameras is constantly improving, so you won’t need to purchase an external microphone unless you plan on shooting outside. If you’re simply talking to a camera while sat inside your house, then the microphones on a Canon G7 X or Sony Cyber-shot RX100 are more than capable.
For outside shots, a camera’s built-in microphone isn’t the best as it always picks up the closest sound. This could be wind or traffic noises if you’re filming outside, making the background sounds appear louder than your voice. The only way to solve the problem is to move the camera closer to your face, defeating the point of being outside as viewers will only see your face and not the scenery. This is why vloggers who do lots of pranking, comedy or action-sports videos while out and about tend to ignore the audio function on their camera and use a portable digital recorder to capture sound. These look like dictaphones, they’re usually very small and they can be hidden in clothing to ensure they’re being held as close as possible to your mouth while remaining out of shot of the camera. You can also ask a good friend to assist you for the day and hold the portable mic close to you but out of shot.
The popular vlogging website Vlogger Pro (vloggerpro.com) recommends the Zoom H1 portable audio device to vloggers starting out because of its low price point and impressive technical capabilities. It will help you create great-quality recordings thanks to its two overlapping unidirectional microphones. This feature means that you will get an accurate stereo recording of your voice while minimising background noise. You can also buy a furry hat for the recorder which will help reduce the buffeting sounds created by wind. The Zoom H1 Handy Recorder is currently priced at £89 on Amazon (amazon.co.uk) but it will make your videos feel a million times more professional.
If it’s a very windy day or you’re worried about where to put the audio device, consider investing in a lapel mic (also known as a ‘lavalier mic’). You clip these tiny microphones to your clothing and attach a belt-pack transmitter to your body, usually in a back pocket. Then you plug a wireless receiver into the mic input on your portable recorder to pick up the transmissions coming from the belt-pack. You need to make sure that the transmitter and receiver have fresh batteries, both are powered on, and that the lavalier mic isn’t rubbing against your clothing or picking up any wind noise. They’re very small, so it’s easy to clip them to clothing, and you can put the wireless transmitter with your audio device anywhere that’s out of shot, such as your handbag or camera bag.
As lavalier mics are available for prices as low as £40 on Amazon, you can achieve professional-quality sound very cheaply. Audio-Technica lavalier mics are currently very popular as the belt-pack transmitter is tiny, making it easy to stash on your person without it being in shot.
Once you’ve finished recording audio on a portable device or with the lavalier set-up, you’ll need to sync it up with the visuals when you come to the video edit. This is known as ‘double-system’ shooting. It’s important to match it up correctly because viewers will be put off if they see your lips moving ahead of or behind the words that you appear to be saying. There’s one trick you can apply to make syncing easier – clap your hands. Do this before you start speaking, then match the sound of the clap with the visual in your edit. If you get the clap right, the sound of your voice will sync with the