Streams are a great way to connect people near and far, interact with communities, and promote products. No matter your reason for streaming, making your stream look professional guarantees better success—more views, better responses and interactions, and quality content production.
Lighting plays a key role in creating a professional stream, affecting video quality and clarity. Discover four ways to improve lighting for professional streaming and upgrade your production results.
Soften Lights With a Diffuser
Light intensity influences the harshness of shadows and highlights. The greater the intensity, the harsher the shadows and highlights. Intense lighting can also wash out your subjects, making them hard to see. Soften your stream’s lighting with a diffuser, softbox, or light umbrella to disperse light evenly and achieve a more flattering illumination. Softer lighting prevents harsh, contrasting, and washed-out lighting, improving your stream’s quality, clarity, and visual appeal.
Keep Color Temperatures Consistent
Bulbs come in different temperature tones, affecting your light’s glow and illumination. Warm lights often create an orange and sun-like radiance. Meanwhile, cooler temperature lights radiate a blue-toned glow. Mixing and matching your lighting’s color temperatures produce an unnatural and chaotic appearance on camera. The contrasting tones produce conflicting moods, illuminate mismatched color casts, and flatten your stream’s visual depth.
Conversely, consistent color temperatures generate a more professional, cohesive, and pleasant visual that gives your stream dimension and aesthetic enhancements. Pick one lighting temperature, depending on your desired mood and tone, and stick to it.
Use a Classic Three-Point Lighting Setup
Lighting placement affects the shadows, casts, and illuminations you create on set. A classic three-point lighting setup places your lights in the most effective positions—in front of the subject at a slight angle, to the subject’s side, and behind the subject. The subject-facing lighting—the key light—illuminates and highlights the subject, making them visible. The side lighting—fill light—fills the shadows of the key light and adds dimension to the subject. The light behind the subject—the backlight—separates the subject from the background, creating depth and further distinguishing the subject.
Invest in Quality Lighting Equipment
Your equipment selection influences your production and results. Some streaming equipment streamlines the production process, allowing you to easily control each component of the setup with a simple control board. Other streaming equipment creates obstacles or is more complicated to use.
Your equipment choice also affects content quality. Top-grade equipment features more updated features. Quality cameras offer higher resolutions and more user-friendly, advanced control mechanics. Quality lighting offers better illumination, easier lighting control, and accurate color rendering.
Basically, investing in professional-grade stream equipment leads to professional results. Ikan’s broadcast lighting selection offers a variety of high-quality lighting options that’ll enhance your stream in many ways.
Many production aspects influence the professionalism and success of your stream. With these four lighting improvements to produce professional streams, you can reap the many benefits of a successful and quality broadcast.