Camversity Girls

Sponsored by Camversity.com

We all know the importance of good lighting… whether you’re a photographer, apartment shopping, an online Cam model, or just trying to get a good selfie. Its all about the lighting. Most amateurs will tell you its because your camera is the issue… FALSE. You can have an Ultra HD camera and an epic make up artist, but with bad lighting, the final product will still come out looking like less than ideal.

Here’s a little snip of information we’ve put together to help excel your Cam career, one watt at a time.

Main Light.

Right off the bat, location. More specifically, location of the Main light… the bright, large source of general lighting that fills the room. During the day, usually that tends to be sunlight. For Cam Models, or other workers that work the night shift, you’re going to need a sufficient source of main light.

• Most often, the room’s overhead light will do the trick. If the overhead light isn’t bright enough for your space, you can always replace the light-bulb with LED or fluorescent studio-quality bulbs found in your nearest home improvement store section.
• Depending on the size of your space, you may want to invest in a row of three main lights.

Support light.

Another large and bright source of light to illuminate you and your work space.

• A light stand with a reflector, umbrella, or softbox is always a good choice.

• Depending on the warmth of the light bulbs and reflector color, you may need to add warmer or cooler extra support lights to even out the white balance tones of your broadcast.

Back light.

A dimmer source of light placed behind or overhead to minimize shadows.

• Depending on the  space you have to work with, you can replace the back light by simply increasing the number of main and support lights. Place them at varying heights around the front and sides of yourself to achieve maximum 180º illumination of your work space.

A note on natural light: If you set up with your back to a window you will be dark as the camera tries to filter all that window brightness behind you. But natural light on a balcony or outdoors is a good idea. To use natural light as a main light, position big windows in front of the work space (i.e. behind the camera). Just add two side/back lights to minimize shadows.

Exposure & Gain

• Exposure and gain can greatly affect quality. More light for your camera to pick up often results in a smoother broadcast feed. Play around with high levels of exposure by compensating with low gain for the best live stream experience.

White Balance and Saturation

• White balance and saturation can be used to further personalize your live stream look. Keep in mind that a gold reflector will change the warmth of the light appearance or, inversely, you can buy low K LED bulbs to add natural warm tones to the stream appearance.

As you get familiar with your camera settings and new lighting setup, you’ll be better able to personalize the appearance of your stream. Don’t be afraid to experiment and let your personality shine through.