How to Balance YouTube with a Full-Time Job

How to balance YouTube with a Full-Time Job

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

I’ve been on YouTube for two years now and it’s no secret that I’ve had my challenges balancing it with my full-time job — and avoiding YouTube burnout. I’m a Social Worker, which means I’m always juggling my time between conducting home visits, returning phone calls and emails, and round-the-clock documentation on my clients. YouTube can be a great source of passive income, but it takes time before you can make money on YouTube .

I’ve had to put a lot of effort into staying consistent with my YouTube channel. Through trial and error, I’ve learned some things that have worked tremendously, while others have been epic fails.

So, to save you and your viewers some of the same struggles, here are 5 tips I recommend for keeping your channel running successfully and having work-life balance!

1. Don’t force yourself to post on specific days

2. Keep track of all your ideas in one notebook planner

3. Check the weather forecast in advance

4. Create 3-5 videos in advance

5. Be creative! Create audios (audio-only videos)

1. Don’t force yourself to post on specific days

I know what you’re thinking - “What?! That’s insane.” The first piece of advice I received about YouTube was to create a schedule of days to post so your viewers look forward to videos. That just doesn’t work for me. Whenever I became too busy with work, I couldn’t stick to my typical Tuesday or Thursday schedule. I think it’s best to focus on how many times you can post in a week rather than a specific day. I try to post at least once a week and that’s my goal. You can always increase as your workload gets lighter or you when you are able to do YouTube full-time.

2. Keep track of all your ideas in one notebook planner

A notebook planner is essential for keeping my life organized and on track. When I first started my channel, I had a separate planner just for my YouTube videos – this didn’t work cause I never looked at it. It worked best when I kept track of my entire life, including YouTube, in one planner since I look at it every day. Then I could also see which days I wanted to post a video or see what topics worked best around specific holidays and such.

3. Check the weather forecast in advance

When starting a YouTube channel, many YouTubers like myself don’t have the money to afford all the fancy lighting you see other creators using. I use natural light , which means I have to make sure it’s going to be a sunny day or at least bright enough for my videos to be clear. I check the forecast for the week on Sunday evenings so I can plan out my best days to film, this keeps my video shooting schedule productive.

4. Create 3-5 videos in advance

This week I am on PTO (paid time off) which has given me a lot more time to film videos I can post for next month. Life happens and it can set you back on filming. If you happen to get a major break in your workweek, use the opportunity to film a bunch of videos, edit them, and have them waiting in your pocket. I filmed three videos in one day – I planned and set-up the night before, which made filming much smoother. Trust me, this tip works wonders!

5. Be creative! Create audios (audio-only videos)

In the event that life gets too crazy, it’s perfectly fine to do just audio. Many of us are always on the go which means it’s the perfect time to listen to great advice while driving to work, waiting on the bus, or working at the gym. Someone out there would love to hear your advice. I started to do this with my Tea Time Talk Audios and the response was great.

I hope these tips can help you on your journey with YouTube while still working a full-time job.

Make a YouTube Video with Wondershare Filmora

Wondershare Filmora is one application that people prefer over any other video editing application due to its easy-to-use editing tools and social media aimed settings. This application can help any beginner with a desire to shoot a movie, achieve his dream even without the availability of high-tech cameras or equipment in his hand. The features like video stabilization feature and lens correction allow removing the major defects that occur while capturing a video. A large number of filters in the application can be used to give the cinematic effect whether it be a short video or a long movie.

Just try it and create your own YouTube video!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

I’ve been on YouTube for two years now and it’s no secret that I’ve had my challenges balancing it with my full-time job — and avoiding YouTube burnout. I’m a Social Worker, which means I’m always juggling my time between conducting home visits, returning phone calls and emails, and round-the-clock documentation on my clients. YouTube can be a great source of passive income, but it takes time before you can make money on YouTube .

I’ve had to put a lot of effort into staying consistent with my YouTube channel. Through trial and error, I’ve learned some things that have worked tremendously, while others have been epic fails.

So, to save you and your viewers some of the same struggles, here are 5 tips I recommend for keeping your channel running successfully and having work-life balance!

1. Don’t force yourself to post on specific days

2. Keep track of all your ideas in one notebook planner

3. Check the weather forecast in advance

4. Create 3-5 videos in advance

5. Be creative! Create audios (audio-only videos)

1. Don’t force yourself to post on specific days

I know what you’re thinking - “What?! That’s insane.” The first piece of advice I received about YouTube was to create a schedule of days to post so your viewers look forward to videos. That just doesn’t work for me. Whenever I became too busy with work, I couldn’t stick to my typical Tuesday or Thursday schedule. I think it’s best to focus on how many times you can post in a week rather than a specific day. I try to post at least once a week and that’s my goal. You can always increase as your workload gets lighter or you when you are able to do YouTube full-time.

2. Keep track of all your ideas in one notebook planner

A notebook planner is essential for keeping my life organized and on track. When I first started my channel, I had a separate planner just for my YouTube videos – this didn’t work cause I never looked at it. It worked best when I kept track of my entire life, including YouTube, in one planner since I look at it every day. Then I could also see which days I wanted to post a video or see what topics worked best around specific holidays and such.

3. Check the weather forecast in advance

When starting a YouTube channel, many YouTubers like myself don’t have the money to afford all the fancy lighting you see other creators using. I use natural light , which means I have to make sure it’s going to be a sunny day or at least bright enough for my videos to be clear. I check the forecast for the week on Sunday evenings so I can plan out my best days to film, this keeps my video shooting schedule productive.

4. Create 3-5 videos in advance

This week I am on PTO (paid time off) which has given me a lot more time to film videos I can post for next month. Life happens and it can set you back on filming. If you happen to get a major break in your workweek, use the opportunity to film a bunch of videos, edit them, and have them waiting in your pocket. I filmed three videos in one day – I planned and set-up the night before, which made filming much smoother. Trust me, this tip works wonders!

5. Be creative! Create audios (audio-only videos)

In the event that life gets too crazy, it’s perfectly fine to do just audio. Many of us are always on the go which means it’s the perfect time to listen to great advice while driving to work, waiting on the bus, or working at the gym. Someone out there would love to hear your advice. I started to do this with my Tea Time Talk Audios and the response was great.

I hope these tips can help you on your journey with YouTube while still working a full-time job.

Make a YouTube Video with Wondershare Filmora

Wondershare Filmora is one application that people prefer over any other video editing application due to its easy-to-use editing tools and social media aimed settings. This application can help any beginner with a desire to shoot a movie, achieve his dream even without the availability of high-tech cameras or equipment in his hand. The features like video stabilization feature and lens correction allow removing the major defects that occur while capturing a video. A large number of filters in the application can be used to give the cinematic effect whether it be a short video or a long movie.

Just try it and create your own YouTube video!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

I’ve been on YouTube for two years now and it’s no secret that I’ve had my challenges balancing it with my full-time job — and avoiding YouTube burnout. I’m a Social Worker, which means I’m always juggling my time between conducting home visits, returning phone calls and emails, and round-the-clock documentation on my clients. YouTube can be a great source of passive income, but it takes time before you can make money on YouTube .

I’ve had to put a lot of effort into staying consistent with my YouTube channel. Through trial and error, I’ve learned some things that have worked tremendously, while others have been epic fails.

So, to save you and your viewers some of the same struggles, here are 5 tips I recommend for keeping your channel running successfully and having work-life balance!

1. Don’t force yourself to post on specific days

2. Keep track of all your ideas in one notebook planner

3. Check the weather forecast in advance

4. Create 3-5 videos in advance

5. Be creative! Create audios (audio-only videos)

1. Don’t force yourself to post on specific days

I know what you’re thinking - “What?! That’s insane.” The first piece of advice I received about YouTube was to create a schedule of days to post so your viewers look forward to videos. That just doesn’t work for me. Whenever I became too busy with work, I couldn’t stick to my typical Tuesday or Thursday schedule. I think it’s best to focus on how many times you can post in a week rather than a specific day. I try to post at least once a week and that’s my goal. You can always increase as your workload gets lighter or you when you are able to do YouTube full-time.

2. Keep track of all your ideas in one notebook planner

A notebook planner is essential for keeping my life organized and on track. When I first started my channel, I had a separate planner just for my YouTube videos – this didn’t work cause I never looked at it. It worked best when I kept track of my entire life, including YouTube, in one planner since I look at it every day. Then I could also see which days I wanted to post a video or see what topics worked best around specific holidays and such.

3. Check the weather forecast in advance

When starting a YouTube channel, many YouTubers like myself don’t have the money to afford all the fancy lighting you see other creators using. I use natural light , which means I have to make sure it’s going to be a sunny day or at least bright enough for my videos to be clear. I check the forecast for the week on Sunday evenings so I can plan out my best days to film, this keeps my video shooting schedule productive.

4. Create 3-5 videos in advance

This week I am on PTO (paid time off) which has given me a lot more time to film videos I can post for next month. Life happens and it can set you back on filming. If you happen to get a major break in your workweek, use the opportunity to film a bunch of videos, edit them, and have them waiting in your pocket. I filmed three videos in one day – I planned and set-up the night before, which made filming much smoother. Trust me, this tip works wonders!

5. Be creative! Create audios (audio-only videos)

In the event that life gets too crazy, it’s perfectly fine to do just audio. Many of us are always on the go which means it’s the perfect time to listen to great advice while driving to work, waiting on the bus, or working at the gym. Someone out there would love to hear your advice. I started to do this with my Tea Time Talk Audios and the response was great.

I hope these tips can help you on your journey with YouTube while still working a full-time job.

Make a YouTube Video with Wondershare Filmora

Wondershare Filmora is one application that people prefer over any other video editing application due to its easy-to-use editing tools and social media aimed settings. This application can help any beginner with a desire to shoot a movie, achieve his dream even without the availability of high-tech cameras or equipment in his hand. The features like video stabilization feature and lens correction allow removing the major defects that occur while capturing a video. A large number of filters in the application can be used to give the cinematic effect whether it be a short video or a long movie.

Just try it and create your own YouTube video!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

I’ve been on YouTube for two years now and it’s no secret that I’ve had my challenges balancing it with my full-time job — and avoiding YouTube burnout. I’m a Social Worker, which means I’m always juggling my time between conducting home visits, returning phone calls and emails, and round-the-clock documentation on my clients. YouTube can be a great source of passive income, but it takes time before you can make money on YouTube .

I’ve had to put a lot of effort into staying consistent with my YouTube channel. Through trial and error, I’ve learned some things that have worked tremendously, while others have been epic fails.

So, to save you and your viewers some of the same struggles, here are 5 tips I recommend for keeping your channel running successfully and having work-life balance!

1. Don’t force yourself to post on specific days

2. Keep track of all your ideas in one notebook planner

3. Check the weather forecast in advance

4. Create 3-5 videos in advance

5. Be creative! Create audios (audio-only videos)

1. Don’t force yourself to post on specific days

I know what you’re thinking - “What?! That’s insane.” The first piece of advice I received about YouTube was to create a schedule of days to post so your viewers look forward to videos. That just doesn’t work for me. Whenever I became too busy with work, I couldn’t stick to my typical Tuesday or Thursday schedule. I think it’s best to focus on how many times you can post in a week rather than a specific day. I try to post at least once a week and that’s my goal. You can always increase as your workload gets lighter or you when you are able to do YouTube full-time.

2. Keep track of all your ideas in one notebook planner

A notebook planner is essential for keeping my life organized and on track. When I first started my channel, I had a separate planner just for my YouTube videos – this didn’t work cause I never looked at it. It worked best when I kept track of my entire life, including YouTube, in one planner since I look at it every day. Then I could also see which days I wanted to post a video or see what topics worked best around specific holidays and such.

3. Check the weather forecast in advance

When starting a YouTube channel, many YouTubers like myself don’t have the money to afford all the fancy lighting you see other creators using. I use natural light , which means I have to make sure it’s going to be a sunny day or at least bright enough for my videos to be clear. I check the forecast for the week on Sunday evenings so I can plan out my best days to film, this keeps my video shooting schedule productive.

4. Create 3-5 videos in advance

This week I am on PTO (paid time off) which has given me a lot more time to film videos I can post for next month. Life happens and it can set you back on filming. If you happen to get a major break in your workweek, use the opportunity to film a bunch of videos, edit them, and have them waiting in your pocket. I filmed three videos in one day – I planned and set-up the night before, which made filming much smoother. Trust me, this tip works wonders!

5. Be creative! Create audios (audio-only videos)

In the event that life gets too crazy, it’s perfectly fine to do just audio. Many of us are always on the go which means it’s the perfect time to listen to great advice while driving to work, waiting on the bus, or working at the gym. Someone out there would love to hear your advice. I started to do this with my Tea Time Talk Audios and the response was great.

I hope these tips can help you on your journey with YouTube while still working a full-time job.

Make a YouTube Video with Wondershare Filmora

Wondershare Filmora is one application that people prefer over any other video editing application due to its easy-to-use editing tools and social media aimed settings. This application can help any beginner with a desire to shoot a movie, achieve his dream even without the availability of high-tech cameras or equipment in his hand. The features like video stabilization feature and lens correction allow removing the major defects that occur while capturing a video. A large number of filters in the application can be used to give the cinematic effect whether it be a short video or a long movie.

Just try it and create your own YouTube video!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Brighten Up: Techniques for Improving Video Lighting on YouTube

How To Light Your YouTube Video

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

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

0

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

0

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

0

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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