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In 2024, Making a Channel's Story Visible in Snippets
Making a Channel’s Story Visible in Snippets
How to Make a Channel Trailer
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
Your channel trailer is the video viewers who are not already subscribed to you will see when they visit your channel page. It is your chance to make a quick pitch to them about why they should subscribe. You can use your channel trailer to let new visitors to your channel know what kind of videos you make and to convince them to subscribe. Here are 5 tips to make an effective YouTube channel trailer.
Part 1: 5 Tips for Making a Great Channel Trailer
Here are our top 5 recommendations for anybody creating a YouTube channel trailer:
Reach Out – It’s All About Your Viewers
Use your channel trailer to try to connect to the individual viewer watching it. Greet that one person as one person, as a ‘you’, instead of as a member of a group (i.e., avoid saying ‘you guys’).
The more you can make your trailer about the person watching it, the better. You are telling them about yourself, but you are doing it for their benefit. Address them directly (i.e. ‘If you like…’ or ‘you don’t want to miss’.) and make everything you say about them. For example, instead of saying ‘I post tutorials about’, try ‘you can learn about’.
Flaunt Your Personality – It’s All About You
One of the golden rules of YouTube is ‘be yourself’. People will subscribe because they enjoy your personality and want to see more of it.
Use your trailer as an opportunity to showcase your unique perspective. Be yourself, and be the person that is excited to be making great YouTube videos. You are at your best when you let people see how much you care about something, so show your viewers how much you care about delivering great video content. This is what will make people want to subscribe.
Talk about All the Cool Stuff You Do
The best channel trailers give viewers a window into your channel. You need to show people what to expect from you as a personality, but you also need to tell them what to expect in terms of your videos.
Your channel trailer should include information like: what kinds of videos you make, why you make them, and what your upload schedule is.
Be specific. Instead of saying you make videos about makeup, say you make look tutorials and talk about your favorite styles. Instead of saying you are a gamer, tell your potential subscribers what games you post about and what some of your favorites are.
A specific schedule is important for getting people to subscribe. Generally, viewers do not subscribe to channels that have not posted in a long time. They subscribe because they do not want to miss out on new content, and if you follow a schedule, they will trust that that new content is on its way.
Ask Them to Subscribe
Do not forget to ask the person to view your trailer to subscribe.
A lot of people go into YouTube thinking people will subscribe if they like their videos, and so making great videos is the only way to get people to subscribe. This is not true.
Making great videos is the first step to getting subscribers, but the second step is to ask for them. Not everyone subscribes to every channel they visit and enjoy. A person who enjoys your videos is more likely to subscribe if you prompt them to.
30 Seconds
The ideal length for a YouTube channel trailer is 30 seconds, or between 30 seconds and 1 minute.
The people viewing your trailer did not come to YouTube for the purpose of watching it. They are unlikely to give it much time before they continue browsing. This means you need to grab their attention tightly right away, but it also means you need to keep your trailer bite-sized.
Thirty seconds should be long enough to tell people what your channel is about, show off your personality, and ask them to subscribe. If you take much longer, viewers will click away before they hear your full pitch.
Part 2: How to Add a Channel Trailer Using Wondershare Filmora
Here are a few simple steps to setting up your channel trailer.
- Turn on channel customization. Go to My Channel and click the gear icon over your channel’s banner. Switch Customize the layout of your channel from off to on.
- Upload your trailer video like you would any other video.
- Go to your channel and click on the For new visitors tab, which should appear after you’ve turned on customization.
- Click Channel trailer and choose your video, or paste in its URL.
If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
Your channel trailer is the video viewers who are not already subscribed to you will see when they visit your channel page. It is your chance to make a quick pitch to them about why they should subscribe. You can use your channel trailer to let new visitors to your channel know what kind of videos you make and to convince them to subscribe. Here are 5 tips to make an effective YouTube channel trailer.
Part 1: 5 Tips for Making a Great Channel Trailer
Here are our top 5 recommendations for anybody creating a YouTube channel trailer:
Reach Out – It’s All About Your Viewers
Use your channel trailer to try to connect to the individual viewer watching it. Greet that one person as one person, as a ‘you’, instead of as a member of a group (i.e., avoid saying ‘you guys’).
The more you can make your trailer about the person watching it, the better. You are telling them about yourself, but you are doing it for their benefit. Address them directly (i.e. ‘If you like…’ or ‘you don’t want to miss’.) and make everything you say about them. For example, instead of saying ‘I post tutorials about’, try ‘you can learn about’.
Flaunt Your Personality – It’s All About You
One of the golden rules of YouTube is ‘be yourself’. People will subscribe because they enjoy your personality and want to see more of it.
Use your trailer as an opportunity to showcase your unique perspective. Be yourself, and be the person that is excited to be making great YouTube videos. You are at your best when you let people see how much you care about something, so show your viewers how much you care about delivering great video content. This is what will make people want to subscribe.
Talk about All the Cool Stuff You Do
The best channel trailers give viewers a window into your channel. You need to show people what to expect from you as a personality, but you also need to tell them what to expect in terms of your videos.
Your channel trailer should include information like: what kinds of videos you make, why you make them, and what your upload schedule is.
Be specific. Instead of saying you make videos about makeup, say you make look tutorials and talk about your favorite styles. Instead of saying you are a gamer, tell your potential subscribers what games you post about and what some of your favorites are.
A specific schedule is important for getting people to subscribe. Generally, viewers do not subscribe to channels that have not posted in a long time. They subscribe because they do not want to miss out on new content, and if you follow a schedule, they will trust that that new content is on its way.
Ask Them to Subscribe
Do not forget to ask the person to view your trailer to subscribe.
A lot of people go into YouTube thinking people will subscribe if they like their videos, and so making great videos is the only way to get people to subscribe. This is not true.
Making great videos is the first step to getting subscribers, but the second step is to ask for them. Not everyone subscribes to every channel they visit and enjoy. A person who enjoys your videos is more likely to subscribe if you prompt them to.
30 Seconds
The ideal length for a YouTube channel trailer is 30 seconds, or between 30 seconds and 1 minute.
The people viewing your trailer did not come to YouTube for the purpose of watching it. They are unlikely to give it much time before they continue browsing. This means you need to grab their attention tightly right away, but it also means you need to keep your trailer bite-sized.
Thirty seconds should be long enough to tell people what your channel is about, show off your personality, and ask them to subscribe. If you take much longer, viewers will click away before they hear your full pitch.
Part 2: How to Add a Channel Trailer Using Wondershare Filmora
Here are a few simple steps to setting up your channel trailer.
- Turn on channel customization. Go to My Channel and click the gear icon over your channel’s banner. Switch Customize the layout of your channel from off to on.
- Upload your trailer video like you would any other video.
- Go to your channel and click on the For new visitors tab, which should appear after you’ve turned on customization.
- Click Channel trailer and choose your video, or paste in its URL.
If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
Your channel trailer is the video viewers who are not already subscribed to you will see when they visit your channel page. It is your chance to make a quick pitch to them about why they should subscribe. You can use your channel trailer to let new visitors to your channel know what kind of videos you make and to convince them to subscribe. Here are 5 tips to make an effective YouTube channel trailer.
Part 1: 5 Tips for Making a Great Channel Trailer
Here are our top 5 recommendations for anybody creating a YouTube channel trailer:
Reach Out – It’s All About Your Viewers
Use your channel trailer to try to connect to the individual viewer watching it. Greet that one person as one person, as a ‘you’, instead of as a member of a group (i.e., avoid saying ‘you guys’).
The more you can make your trailer about the person watching it, the better. You are telling them about yourself, but you are doing it for their benefit. Address them directly (i.e. ‘If you like…’ or ‘you don’t want to miss’.) and make everything you say about them. For example, instead of saying ‘I post tutorials about’, try ‘you can learn about’.
Flaunt Your Personality – It’s All About You
One of the golden rules of YouTube is ‘be yourself’. People will subscribe because they enjoy your personality and want to see more of it.
Use your trailer as an opportunity to showcase your unique perspective. Be yourself, and be the person that is excited to be making great YouTube videos. You are at your best when you let people see how much you care about something, so show your viewers how much you care about delivering great video content. This is what will make people want to subscribe.
Talk about All the Cool Stuff You Do
The best channel trailers give viewers a window into your channel. You need to show people what to expect from you as a personality, but you also need to tell them what to expect in terms of your videos.
Your channel trailer should include information like: what kinds of videos you make, why you make them, and what your upload schedule is.
Be specific. Instead of saying you make videos about makeup, say you make look tutorials and talk about your favorite styles. Instead of saying you are a gamer, tell your potential subscribers what games you post about and what some of your favorites are.
A specific schedule is important for getting people to subscribe. Generally, viewers do not subscribe to channels that have not posted in a long time. They subscribe because they do not want to miss out on new content, and if you follow a schedule, they will trust that that new content is on its way.
Ask Them to Subscribe
Do not forget to ask the person to view your trailer to subscribe.
A lot of people go into YouTube thinking people will subscribe if they like their videos, and so making great videos is the only way to get people to subscribe. This is not true.
Making great videos is the first step to getting subscribers, but the second step is to ask for them. Not everyone subscribes to every channel they visit and enjoy. A person who enjoys your videos is more likely to subscribe if you prompt them to.
30 Seconds
The ideal length for a YouTube channel trailer is 30 seconds, or between 30 seconds and 1 minute.
The people viewing your trailer did not come to YouTube for the purpose of watching it. They are unlikely to give it much time before they continue browsing. This means you need to grab their attention tightly right away, but it also means you need to keep your trailer bite-sized.
Thirty seconds should be long enough to tell people what your channel is about, show off your personality, and ask them to subscribe. If you take much longer, viewers will click away before they hear your full pitch.
Part 2: How to Add a Channel Trailer Using Wondershare Filmora
Here are a few simple steps to setting up your channel trailer.
- Turn on channel customization. Go to My Channel and click the gear icon over your channel’s banner. Switch Customize the layout of your channel from off to on.
- Upload your trailer video like you would any other video.
- Go to your channel and click on the For new visitors tab, which should appear after you’ve turned on customization.
- Click Channel trailer and choose your video, or paste in its URL.
If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
Your channel trailer is the video viewers who are not already subscribed to you will see when they visit your channel page. It is your chance to make a quick pitch to them about why they should subscribe. You can use your channel trailer to let new visitors to your channel know what kind of videos you make and to convince them to subscribe. Here are 5 tips to make an effective YouTube channel trailer.
Part 1: 5 Tips for Making a Great Channel Trailer
Here are our top 5 recommendations for anybody creating a YouTube channel trailer:
Reach Out – It’s All About Your Viewers
Use your channel trailer to try to connect to the individual viewer watching it. Greet that one person as one person, as a ‘you’, instead of as a member of a group (i.e., avoid saying ‘you guys’).
The more you can make your trailer about the person watching it, the better. You are telling them about yourself, but you are doing it for their benefit. Address them directly (i.e. ‘If you like…’ or ‘you don’t want to miss’.) and make everything you say about them. For example, instead of saying ‘I post tutorials about’, try ‘you can learn about’.
Flaunt Your Personality – It’s All About You
One of the golden rules of YouTube is ‘be yourself’. People will subscribe because they enjoy your personality and want to see more of it.
Use your trailer as an opportunity to showcase your unique perspective. Be yourself, and be the person that is excited to be making great YouTube videos. You are at your best when you let people see how much you care about something, so show your viewers how much you care about delivering great video content. This is what will make people want to subscribe.
Talk about All the Cool Stuff You Do
The best channel trailers give viewers a window into your channel. You need to show people what to expect from you as a personality, but you also need to tell them what to expect in terms of your videos.
Your channel trailer should include information like: what kinds of videos you make, why you make them, and what your upload schedule is.
Be specific. Instead of saying you make videos about makeup, say you make look tutorials and talk about your favorite styles. Instead of saying you are a gamer, tell your potential subscribers what games you post about and what some of your favorites are.
A specific schedule is important for getting people to subscribe. Generally, viewers do not subscribe to channels that have not posted in a long time. They subscribe because they do not want to miss out on new content, and if you follow a schedule, they will trust that that new content is on its way.
Ask Them to Subscribe
Do not forget to ask the person to view your trailer to subscribe.
A lot of people go into YouTube thinking people will subscribe if they like their videos, and so making great videos is the only way to get people to subscribe. This is not true.
Making great videos is the first step to getting subscribers, but the second step is to ask for them. Not everyone subscribes to every channel they visit and enjoy. A person who enjoys your videos is more likely to subscribe if you prompt them to.
30 Seconds
The ideal length for a YouTube channel trailer is 30 seconds, or between 30 seconds and 1 minute.
The people viewing your trailer did not come to YouTube for the purpose of watching it. They are unlikely to give it much time before they continue browsing. This means you need to grab their attention tightly right away, but it also means you need to keep your trailer bite-sized.
Thirty seconds should be long enough to tell people what your channel is about, show off your personality, and ask them to subscribe. If you take much longer, viewers will click away before they hear your full pitch.
Part 2: How to Add a Channel Trailer Using Wondershare Filmora
Here are a few simple steps to setting up your channel trailer.
- Turn on channel customization. Go to My Channel and click the gear icon over your channel’s banner. Switch Customize the layout of your channel from off to on.
- Upload your trailer video like you would any other video.
- Go to your channel and click on the For new visitors tab, which should appear after you’ve turned on customization.
- Click Channel trailer and choose your video, or paste in its URL.
If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Detailed Tips for Adequate Lighting in YouTube Video Production
How To Light Your YouTube Video
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
When it comes to sensitivity to light, no consumer-level camera sensor comes close in performance to the human eye. Many newbies to videography, though, don’t think about this when they use their camera indoors and discover that their recorded footage appears too dark.
If you want to use your camera indoors as many YouTubers do, you’ll need to have extra light. But the solution is not as simple as surrounding yourself with lamps that are all randomly placed.
Below, I’ll go into detail on how you can set up your lighting equipment to make your YouTube videos look good.
| Table of Contents Using Light You Already Have Window LightingHome Lighting Home Studio Lighting Light Control3-Point Lighting4-Point Lighting |
|---|
Part 1: Using Light You Already Have
Most beginner YouTubers light their videos with what they already have. That’s what I did to start as well. In the past, my video recording space consisted of natural sunlight coming from my window and ceiling light for times when the sunlight wasn’t strong enough.
1. Window Lighting
The best thing about window lighting is that it’s free. The worst thing about it is that it’s uncontrollable. The amount of light you get in your video can vary with all the changes in the weather.
Window lighting for me was especially difficult to work with because I live in a very rainy and cloudy city, Vancouver, Canada, where we pretty much just get three months of good sun.
Above are two freeze frames from one of Daniel’s past window-lit vlogs. Although these two frames are both from the same vlog, you can see that the image on the right looks brighter due to clearer skies at that moment. These varying amounts of light is what you will have to deal with if you choose to light your YouTube video with window lighting.
2. Home Lighting
Home lighting is another source of light that many new YouTubers use. In the past, when my window light wasn’t strong enough to light my video recording space, I would turn on the ceiling light.
Notice how the color of Daniel’s skin looks much more orange here (above) than the color of the skin in the two side-by-side window lighting examples? The side of the face also appears to look bluer. This all happened because he mixed up different color temperatures shining out of the two lights (cooler window light and warmer ceiling light).
Most home lighting is warmer in its color temperature. If you want to use your home lights without everything being orange-tinted, you’ll need to switch out your light bulbs for daytime LED light bulbs.
Ceiling lights are also typically situated in the center of a room in order to light an entire room evenly. This is not likely to be the best location for your filming video. Since the ceiling light was directly above the face in the above example, you can see harder shadows beneath his cheeks.
Part 2: Home Studio Lighting
If you rather not deal with all the window and home lighting challenges, you can set up studio lighting in your home.
1. Light Control
The first thing you’ll want to do to set up studio lighting in your home is to pick a room to film in and eliminate as much external lighting as you can. Use blinds, curtains, towels, or any thick fabric to block sunlight from shining into your room.
2. 3-Point Lighting
The most common setup for studio lighting is 3-point lighting. For this kind of lighting you’ll need three lights: a key light, a fill light, and a back light (also called a hair light).
Out of the three lights, the key light should be the brightest. When it is positioned to the left of you (as shown in the diagram above) your right side will have shadows.
To minimize the shadows on your right side, use a weaker light as a fill light. You don’t want your fill light to completely eliminate all your shadows or else your shot will look flat.
Lastly, a backlight positioned behind you can give an appealing highlight to the ends of your head and even help to separate your hair from blending into your background if both happen to be dark.
3. 4-Point Lighting
As a YouTuber, you may not only want yourself to be seen optimally with proper lighting, but you may also want your background to be seen optimally, especially if you’ve taken the time to decorate it for your audience.
What you’ll need to ensure that your background is sufficiently lit is 4-point lighting setup. The 4-point lighting setup is the same as a 3-point lighting setup, but with an additional light shining at your background.
For more information on lighting equipment, check out my Top 17 Video Lighting Equipment For YouTubers .
Touch Up YouTube Videos with Filmora
Filmora is one of the best video editing software for YouTube beginners to start the YouTube channel. So, if you find the lighting isn’t perfect after recording, you can use the Auto Color Enhancement feature in Filmora to adjust the color with one-click. Or, you can change the white balance, Light, color, and HSL manually. Filmora also features some presets and LUTs templates , which allows you to apply pre-programmed effects to video for color correction faster.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
When it comes to sensitivity to light, no consumer-level camera sensor comes close in performance to the human eye. Many newbies to videography, though, don’t think about this when they use their camera indoors and discover that their recorded footage appears too dark.
If you want to use your camera indoors as many YouTubers do, you’ll need to have extra light. But the solution is not as simple as surrounding yourself with lamps that are all randomly placed.
Below, I’ll go into detail on how you can set up your lighting equipment to make your YouTube videos look good.
| Table of Contents Using Light You Already Have Window LightingHome Lighting Home Studio Lighting Light Control3-Point Lighting4-Point Lighting |
|---|
Part 1: Using Light You Already Have
Most beginner YouTubers light their videos with what they already have. That’s what I did to start as well. In the past, my video recording space consisted of natural sunlight coming from my window and ceiling light for times when the sunlight wasn’t strong enough.
1. Window Lighting
The best thing about window lighting is that it’s free. The worst thing about it is that it’s uncontrollable. The amount of light you get in your video can vary with all the changes in the weather.
Window lighting for me was especially difficult to work with because I live in a very rainy and cloudy city, Vancouver, Canada, where we pretty much just get three months of good sun.
Above are two freeze frames from one of Daniel’s past window-lit vlogs. Although these two frames are both from the same vlog, you can see that the image on the right looks brighter due to clearer skies at that moment. These varying amounts of light is what you will have to deal with if you choose to light your YouTube video with window lighting.
2. Home Lighting
Home lighting is another source of light that many new YouTubers use. In the past, when my window light wasn’t strong enough to light my video recording space, I would turn on the ceiling light.
Notice how the color of Daniel’s skin looks much more orange here (above) than the color of the skin in the two side-by-side window lighting examples? The side of the face also appears to look bluer. This all happened because he mixed up different color temperatures shining out of the two lights (cooler window light and warmer ceiling light).
Most home lighting is warmer in its color temperature. If you want to use your home lights without everything being orange-tinted, you’ll need to switch out your light bulbs for daytime LED light bulbs.
Ceiling lights are also typically situated in the center of a room in order to light an entire room evenly. This is not likely to be the best location for your filming video. Since the ceiling light was directly above the face in the above example, you can see harder shadows beneath his cheeks.
Part 2: Home Studio Lighting
If you rather not deal with all the window and home lighting challenges, you can set up studio lighting in your home.
1. Light Control
The first thing you’ll want to do to set up studio lighting in your home is to pick a room to film in and eliminate as much external lighting as you can. Use blinds, curtains, towels, or any thick fabric to block sunlight from shining into your room.
2. 3-Point Lighting
The most common setup for studio lighting is 3-point lighting. For this kind of lighting you’ll need three lights: a key light, a fill light, and a back light (also called a hair light).
Out of the three lights, the key light should be the brightest. When it is positioned to the left of you (as shown in the diagram above) your right side will have shadows.
To minimize the shadows on your right side, use a weaker light as a fill light. You don’t want your fill light to completely eliminate all your shadows or else your shot will look flat.
Lastly, a backlight positioned behind you can give an appealing highlight to the ends of your head and even help to separate your hair from blending into your background if both happen to be dark.
3. 4-Point Lighting
As a YouTuber, you may not only want yourself to be seen optimally with proper lighting, but you may also want your background to be seen optimally, especially if you’ve taken the time to decorate it for your audience.
What you’ll need to ensure that your background is sufficiently lit is 4-point lighting setup. The 4-point lighting setup is the same as a 3-point lighting setup, but with an additional light shining at your background.
For more information on lighting equipment, check out my Top 17 Video Lighting Equipment For YouTubers .
Touch Up YouTube Videos with Filmora
Filmora is one of the best video editing software for YouTube beginners to start the YouTube channel. So, if you find the lighting isn’t perfect after recording, you can use the Auto Color Enhancement feature in Filmora to adjust the color with one-click. Or, you can change the white balance, Light, color, and HSL manually. Filmora also features some presets and LUTs templates , which allows you to apply pre-programmed effects to video for color correction faster.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
When it comes to sensitivity to light, no consumer-level camera sensor comes close in performance to the human eye. Many newbies to videography, though, don’t think about this when they use their camera indoors and discover that their recorded footage appears too dark.
If you want to use your camera indoors as many YouTubers do, you’ll need to have extra light. But the solution is not as simple as surrounding yourself with lamps that are all randomly placed.
Below, I’ll go into detail on how you can set up your lighting equipment to make your YouTube videos look good.
| Table of Contents Using Light You Already Have Window LightingHome Lighting Home Studio Lighting Light Control3-Point Lighting4-Point Lighting |
|---|
Part 1: Using Light You Already Have
Most beginner YouTubers light their videos with what they already have. That’s what I did to start as well. In the past, my video recording space consisted of natural sunlight coming from my window and ceiling light for times when the sunlight wasn’t strong enough.
1. Window Lighting
The best thing about window lighting is that it’s free. The worst thing about it is that it’s uncontrollable. The amount of light you get in your video can vary with all the changes in the weather.
Window lighting for me was especially difficult to work with because I live in a very rainy and cloudy city, Vancouver, Canada, where we pretty much just get three months of good sun.
Above are two freeze frames from one of Daniel’s past window-lit vlogs. Although these two frames are both from the same vlog, you can see that the image on the right looks brighter due to clearer skies at that moment. These varying amounts of light is what you will have to deal with if you choose to light your YouTube video with window lighting.
2. Home Lighting
Home lighting is another source of light that many new YouTubers use. In the past, when my window light wasn’t strong enough to light my video recording space, I would turn on the ceiling light.
Notice how the color of Daniel’s skin looks much more orange here (above) than the color of the skin in the two side-by-side window lighting examples? The side of the face also appears to look bluer. This all happened because he mixed up different color temperatures shining out of the two lights (cooler window light and warmer ceiling light).
Most home lighting is warmer in its color temperature. If you want to use your home lights without everything being orange-tinted, you’ll need to switch out your light bulbs for daytime LED light bulbs.
Ceiling lights are also typically situated in the center of a room in order to light an entire room evenly. This is not likely to be the best location for your filming video. Since the ceiling light was directly above the face in the above example, you can see harder shadows beneath his cheeks.
Part 2: Home Studio Lighting
If you rather not deal with all the window and home lighting challenges, you can set up studio lighting in your home.
1. Light Control
The first thing you’ll want to do to set up studio lighting in your home is to pick a room to film in and eliminate as much external lighting as you can. Use blinds, curtains, towels, or any thick fabric to block sunlight from shining into your room.
2. 3-Point Lighting
The most common setup for studio lighting is 3-point lighting. For this kind of lighting you’ll need three lights: a key light, a fill light, and a back light (also called a hair light).
Out of the three lights, the key light should be the brightest. When it is positioned to the left of you (as shown in the diagram above) your right side will have shadows.
To minimize the shadows on your right side, use a weaker light as a fill light. You don’t want your fill light to completely eliminate all your shadows or else your shot will look flat.
Lastly, a backlight positioned behind you can give an appealing highlight to the ends of your head and even help to separate your hair from blending into your background if both happen to be dark.
3. 4-Point Lighting
As a YouTuber, you may not only want yourself to be seen optimally with proper lighting, but you may also want your background to be seen optimally, especially if you’ve taken the time to decorate it for your audience.
What you’ll need to ensure that your background is sufficiently lit is 4-point lighting setup. The 4-point lighting setup is the same as a 3-point lighting setup, but with an additional light shining at your background.
For more information on lighting equipment, check out my Top 17 Video Lighting Equipment For YouTubers .
Touch Up YouTube Videos with Filmora
Filmora is one of the best video editing software for YouTube beginners to start the YouTube channel. So, if you find the lighting isn’t perfect after recording, you can use the Auto Color Enhancement feature in Filmora to adjust the color with one-click. Or, you can change the white balance, Light, color, and HSL manually. Filmora also features some presets and LUTs templates , which allows you to apply pre-programmed effects to video for color correction faster.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
When it comes to sensitivity to light, no consumer-level camera sensor comes close in performance to the human eye. Many newbies to videography, though, don’t think about this when they use their camera indoors and discover that their recorded footage appears too dark.
If you want to use your camera indoors as many YouTubers do, you’ll need to have extra light. But the solution is not as simple as surrounding yourself with lamps that are all randomly placed.
Below, I’ll go into detail on how you can set up your lighting equipment to make your YouTube videos look good.
| Table of Contents Using Light You Already Have Window LightingHome Lighting Home Studio Lighting Light Control3-Point Lighting4-Point Lighting |
|---|
Part 1: Using Light You Already Have
Most beginner YouTubers light their videos with what they already have. That’s what I did to start as well. In the past, my video recording space consisted of natural sunlight coming from my window and ceiling light for times when the sunlight wasn’t strong enough.
1. Window Lighting
The best thing about window lighting is that it’s free. The worst thing about it is that it’s uncontrollable. The amount of light you get in your video can vary with all the changes in the weather.
Window lighting for me was especially difficult to work with because I live in a very rainy and cloudy city, Vancouver, Canada, where we pretty much just get three months of good sun.
Above are two freeze frames from one of Daniel’s past window-lit vlogs. Although these two frames are both from the same vlog, you can see that the image on the right looks brighter due to clearer skies at that moment. These varying amounts of light is what you will have to deal with if you choose to light your YouTube video with window lighting.
2. Home Lighting
Home lighting is another source of light that many new YouTubers use. In the past, when my window light wasn’t strong enough to light my video recording space, I would turn on the ceiling light.
Notice how the color of Daniel’s skin looks much more orange here (above) than the color of the skin in the two side-by-side window lighting examples? The side of the face also appears to look bluer. This all happened because he mixed up different color temperatures shining out of the two lights (cooler window light and warmer ceiling light).
Most home lighting is warmer in its color temperature. If you want to use your home lights without everything being orange-tinted, you’ll need to switch out your light bulbs for daytime LED light bulbs.
Ceiling lights are also typically situated in the center of a room in order to light an entire room evenly. This is not likely to be the best location for your filming video. Since the ceiling light was directly above the face in the above example, you can see harder shadows beneath his cheeks.
Part 2: Home Studio Lighting
If you rather not deal with all the window and home lighting challenges, you can set up studio lighting in your home.
1. Light Control
The first thing you’ll want to do to set up studio lighting in your home is to pick a room to film in and eliminate as much external lighting as you can. Use blinds, curtains, towels, or any thick fabric to block sunlight from shining into your room.
2. 3-Point Lighting
The most common setup for studio lighting is 3-point lighting. For this kind of lighting you’ll need three lights: a key light, a fill light, and a back light (also called a hair light).
Out of the three lights, the key light should be the brightest. When it is positioned to the left of you (as shown in the diagram above) your right side will have shadows.
To minimize the shadows on your right side, use a weaker light as a fill light. You don’t want your fill light to completely eliminate all your shadows or else your shot will look flat.
Lastly, a backlight positioned behind you can give an appealing highlight to the ends of your head and even help to separate your hair from blending into your background if both happen to be dark.
3. 4-Point Lighting
As a YouTuber, you may not only want yourself to be seen optimally with proper lighting, but you may also want your background to be seen optimally, especially if you’ve taken the time to decorate it for your audience.
What you’ll need to ensure that your background is sufficiently lit is 4-point lighting setup. The 4-point lighting setup is the same as a 3-point lighting setup, but with an additional light shining at your background.
For more information on lighting equipment, check out my Top 17 Video Lighting Equipment For YouTubers .
Touch Up YouTube Videos with Filmora
Filmora is one of the best video editing software for YouTube beginners to start the YouTube channel. So, if you find the lighting isn’t perfect after recording, you can use the Auto Color Enhancement feature in Filmora to adjust the color with one-click. Or, you can change the white balance, Light, color, and HSL manually. Filmora also features some presets and LUTs templates , which allows you to apply pre-programmed effects to video for color correction faster.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
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- Title: In 2024, Making a Channel's Story Visible in Snippets
- Author: Thomas
- Created at : 2024-05-31 12:46:19
- Updated at : 2024-06-01 12:46:19
- Link: https://youtube-help.techidaily.com/in-2024-making-a-channels-story-visible-in-snippets/
- License: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
