{"id":18345,"date":"2020-06-01T20:45:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-01T20:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/?p=2577151"},"modified":"2020-06-01T20:45:00","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T20:45:00","slug":"how-to-upgrade-your-at-home-videoconference-setup-lighting-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/01\/how-to-upgrade-your-at-home-videoconference-setup-lighting-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"How to upgrade your at-home videoconference setup: Lighting edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Without good lighting, you’ll never have good video<\/p>\n

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In this installment<\/span> of our ongoing series around making the most of your at-home video setup, we’re going to focus on one of the most important, but least well-understood or implemented parts of the equation: Lighting. While it isn’t actually something that requires a lot of training, expertise or even equipment to get right, it’s probably the number-one culprit for subpar video quality on most conference calls — and it can mean the difference between looking like someone who knows what they talk about, and someone who might not inspire too much confidence on seminars, speaking gigs and remote broadcast appearances.<\/p>\n

Basics<\/h2>\n

You can make a very big improvement in your lighting with just a little work, and without spending any money. The secret is all in being aware of your surroundings and optimizing your camera placement relative to any light sources that might be present. Consider not only any ceiling lights or lamps in your room, but also natural light sources like windows.<\/p>\n

Ideally, you should position yourself so that the source of brightest light is positioned behind your camera (and above it, if possible). You should also make sure that there aren’t any strong competing light sources behind you that might blow out the image. If you have a large window and it’s daytime, face the window with your back to a wall, for instance. And if you have a movable light or an overhead lamp, either move it so it’s behind and above your computer facing you, or move yourself if possible to achieve the same effect with a fixed-position light fixture, like a ceiling pendant.<\/p>\n

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Ideally, any bright light source should be positioned behind and slightly above your camera for best results<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Even if the light seems aggressively bright to you, it should make for an even, clear image on your webcam. Even though most webcams have auto-balancing software features that attempt to produce the best results regardless of lighting, they can only do so much, and especially lower-end camera hardware, like the webcam built into MacBooks, will benefit greatly from some physical lighting position optimization.<\/p>\n

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This is an example of what not to do: Having a bright light source behind you will make your face hard to see, and the background blown out<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Simple ways to level-up<\/h2>\n

The best way to step up beyond the basics is to learn some of the fundamentals of good video lighting. Again, this doesn’t necessarily require any purchases — it could be as simple as taking what you already have and using it in creative ways.<\/p>\n

Beyond just the above advice about putting your strongest light source behind your camera pointed toward your face, you can get a little more sophisticated by adopting the principles of two- and three-point lighting. You don’t need special lights to make this work — you just need to use what you have available and place them for optimal effect.<\/p>\n