9 Lights For Content Creators To Enhance Videos

Have you ever watched a famous YouTuber’s content or a viral TikTok video and wondered why your videos don’t look as cool as theirs? What you can’t see is that, out of frame, that content creator is probably using special lighting that takes their ordinary walls and ceiling to the next level. Lights for content creators are crucial for high-quality, engaging videos. If you’re a content creator looking to bring pizazz to your videos, read on to find out which BlissLights lighting options can take your content to new heights.

Why lights are important for content creators

Unique lighting options for content creators help with the following:

• Mood. Have you ever walked down a hallway lit with those long, cylindrical fluorescent lights and felt uncomfortable or even got a headache? That’s because white fluorescent lights have a high color temperature, which can sometimes be harsh and uninviting – exactly what you don’t want for your YouTube video. You want to gently reel in longtime viewers and new subscribers, and a good video lighting kit can set a properly welcoming mood.
• Engagement. Just because you’ve invited someone in doesn’t mean they’ll stick around. High-quality light distinguishes your content from your viewers’ everyday sights, and that’s more reason for them to stay tuned.
• Appearance. Some YouTubers film while sitting in front of a green screen or other flat, plain background. With lights for content creators, you can do even better. A galaxy projector like the ones going viral on TikTok, for example, can add sensational, warm, colorful objects onto your walls – and that’s all without the work of hanging a background screen. Even you will look different since skin tones vary with color temperatures.
• Excitement. Let’s go back to what’s behind you in your videos. A blank background is neutral, but you can be positive with a good video lighting kit. With color and texture behind you instead of a relatively bland background, you’ll stand out from the ever-growing competition.

9 lights for content creators

Your options for creating a YouTube lighting set include great lighting types such as:

1. Softbox lights

Softbox lights provide wide, flat light similar to natural light from windows, and you can hang them over your filming area for simple indoor video shoots. Most softbox lights are rectangular, but you can also get them in all kinds of fun shapes – hexagons, curves, narrow strips, you name it. They emit continuous light through reflective internal materials and diffusion panels, so you can count on them for lighting that isn’t harsh but is excellent at eliminating shadows.

2. LED on-camera lights

LED lights come in a few sizes and shapes, but for content creators, we’ll talk about just two: LED on-camera lights and LED ring lights. First up: LED on-camera lights.

Think of LED on-camera lights as softbox lights for your camera. You’ll attach your LED on-camera lighting unit to your camera just above its lens, where your attachment’s hundreds of tiny light bulbs will work to produce even, bright lighting. Since these lights are basically tiny softbox lights, they’re super useful for outdoor, on-the-go content creation in dark or poorly lit spaces.

3. LED ring lights

LED ring lights are super popular on YouTube. That’s because you can see a tiny version of their halo in your eyes when you sit in front of them, though that’s not the only reason they’re popular. The open space in the middle of a ring light eliminates the flattening effect sometimes found in other lights. Instead, you just get a soft glow with no shadows.

You can use these lights for makeup and beauty tutorials – in fact, you’ll often see ring lights around makeup mirrors in these videos. At BlissLights, we sell laser lights that perfectly complement LED ring lights, and we’ll talk more about those just a bit further down this list.

4. Natural lights

Natural light doesn’t have to mean going outside. Since, around noon, natural sunlight has a color temperature of approximately 5500K – the same temperature common in some LED lights – that’s a great time to set up your filming station and record your newest video. Even if you do get a few shadows at other times of day, natural light is always free.

5. Umbrella lights

If you’ve ever been on a professional film set, you’ve seen umbrella lights. There are two varieties of umbrella lights: a reflective type that bounces light back onto your shooting area and a shoot-through type that softly funnels light toward your subject. The U-shape curvature of these lights’ shields means better light direction, plus their bulbs, shields, and light stands are all portable, so they’re ideal for shooting video anywhere.

6. Fill lights

A fill light is a moderately powerful light that eliminates shadows around your face. Fill lights are often used as secondary light sources (whereas umbrella lights or softbox lights might be primary light sources). That’s because fill lights are less bright than primary sources, making them ideal for lighting parts of your face that your primary light source just isn’t reaching.

7. Sky lights

Here’s where we’ll get into some of our more unusual – and unforgettable – lighting ideas. With sky lights such as our Sky Lite Evolve Galaxy Projector, your room becomes a starry night or a gossamer galaxy. Sounds fun, right? Your viewers will agree – a patterned lighting touch goes a long way toward making your content engaging and memorable. Plus, this kind of immersive, colorful background just wasn’t common in homemade YouTube and TikTok videos until the BlissLights Evolve came along. And speaking of color…

Sky Lite Evolve: Smart Galaxy Projector

$49.99$39.99

The latest evolution in smart galaxy lighting.

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8. Colored lights

While patterns can make an unparalleled splash in your YouTube video, you have other options if you’re working on a slimmer budget. Install a BlissBulb into any standard light fixture and stand back as your room fills with red, green, or blue starry lights. You’ll get a beautifully colored filming environment that soothes not just you, but your viewers too.

BlissBulb Laser LightBulb

$9.99

Transforming your world is as easy as changing a lightbulb.

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9. Portable lights 

Earlier, we mentioned that umbrella lights are portable, and while that’s true, they’re still pretty big. Here at BlissLights, our lights can almost fit in your pockets – when we say portable, we’re talking full convenience.

Portability also allows you to move your lights around your room and film in different spots. With our red, green, or blue StarPort Laser USB, you can plug into a gaming console, laptop, or mobile charger and move your device wherever. Or you can plug in on the go to give your outdoor video an unusual dash of colorful lighting. With portable lights, you’ll make a lasting impression, but you won’t take up space.

StarPort USB Light

$14.99

One tiny light. Thousands of stars!

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How (and why) laser lights work

At this point, you might be wondering how all our portable, colored, and sky lights work. It’s quite simple, actually: lasers. Yes, you read that right. Lasers.

Lasers, it turns out, are brilliant lighting sources for content creators. They emit highly focused light without consuming much energy, and since one laser beam can be diffracted into thousands of smaller beams, lasers are perfect for providing beautiful patterns your viewers won’t forget. Best of all, they’re compact: They’re bulbs, short projectors, palm-size USB plug-ins – they’re the opposite of go big or go home.