There are three simple pillars to making your videos feel more professional and enjoyable to watch again later. These three factors are good lighting, good audio, and stability. I’ve written a whole post about the latter and I address audio in this post. But today, we’re focusing on lighting for iPhone video. Why is it important? And what simple tricks can we keep in mind in order to get better lighting in our videos?
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Tip #1 – Look for the light
The first basic guidepost for good lighting is to be aware of where your main light source is. Make sure that light is shining onto your subject’s face instead of coming from behind them (backlighting). When there is more light behind whatever you’re filming, it’s going to make that person or object hard to see. You want to stand between the light source (usually the sun!) and your subject instead of having your subject between you and the light source. Keep an eye out for your shadow, which can sometimes interfere, but essentially, you want your subject to be better lit than the background.
Tip #2 – Choose overcast days
The second basic guidepost for good lighting is to avoid harsh, bright sunlight in favor of overcast days, early mornings or evening golden hours. Midday sun can cast strong shadows (not to mention making your subjects squinty!) which means that some portions of your video will be too dark and some will be too light. This can definitely be a stylistic choice, but there’s a softness to the light in the in-between times of day that makes everything look just a little prettier without even trying. If you’re traveling, try to plan some activities for those times of the day instead of planning everything between 10 am and 2 pm.
Now, you can’t always control the timing of events (or the weather! Has no one figured this out yet?) but, it can be nice a nice reframe. Instead of being disappointed about a cloudy day on your travels, know that it can lead to some really evenly lit video footage!
Tip #3 – Be flexible!
The third basic guidepost to good lighting in videos is to be flexible and not afraid to move yourself around if necessary! If I’m taking a selfie at home, I’ll often move closer to a window where I can get more light on my face, and diffuse the light with a curtain if I need to. When we’re walking in the botanic gardens, I’ll shoot video in areas where the light is more even or dappled, like a shady grove of trees, instead of a huge open patch of direct sunlight. This is connected to the first guidepost in that you need to be aware of your light source, but it also means being aware of how light changes (like, waiting for the sun to go behind a passing cloud!) in order to capture your video in the right moment.
I find that this awareness helps me to be more present because not only am I in tune with my environment, I’m not shooting continuous video with my fingers crossed. I’m enjoying the moment and the action through my eyeballs until the moment is right to pull out my camera. I’ll have my phone in my hand with the camera app ready to go, but I won’t actually pull it up until the right moment. It means less video clips to sort through later that are “not quite right” and more engaging with what’s happening in front of me in the first person (not through a lens) – win, win!
Lighting for iPhone Video Demystified
Hopefully this helps demystify lighting for smartphone video a little bit, since I know it’s a question I get asked about a lot. Before we go, let me share two other lighting-related tips with you. Camera phones are progressing at light-years speed it seems like, but they still struggle in low light situations. If you do have to shoot in low light, make sure you invest in a gimbal (*affiliate link) and read this blog post I wrote with stabilization tips and tricks because that’s going to especially important in those scenarios.
Also, unless you’re going to be shooting videos professionally, for YouTube, or for another social media platform, I really don’t think it’s necessary to purchase any sort of external lighting. (If that IS you, however, here’s a list of my favorite gear). I’m a huge fan of keeping it simple and believe that an understanding of the basic principles of photography and videography can go a long way towards better video footage, without a huge investment into a bunch of gear that you’re going to have to lug around when you’re out and about with your family or on vacation.
Do you have any other questions about lighting for iPhone video? Let me know and I’ll answer them in the comments!
