A taste of spring is in the air where I am today. It’s 2018 and having lighting that makes your video three times better and makes you look better, well it’s definitely worth an upgrade.

I’ve always suggested that girls (and guys and trans too!) have a third light and one that is in the background. This works great for better video chat and makes you and everything around you look better. You can even get creative combining a bright light here with a purposeful shadow there and second soft box light to the side with a nice ring light front or something.

I’ve seen girls one live cam doing great shows having an LED light orb just sitting on the couch while they are sitting on the floor. Often times however when people are live streaming from home, they don’t have a great option for a third or fourth light to be in the frame or background and look natural.

Something I saw recently made me realize that I should be suggesting an alternate to having an actual light fixture in the background and in frame of your webcam view.

First, a spot light like the one they use on mirror balls (you might find one at spencers or an adult toys store that stocks a lot of bachelor / bachelorette party supplies) – I’ve used the American DJ professional spotlights, and I think the form factor is easily adaptable to a home webcam studio situation for a couple different uses. You can attach these up high and focus the beam of light onto the wall, or something else behind you. This extra spot of light in the background will help most webcams create a sharper and balanced color to make you look better.

Get two of the spot / mirror ball kits like these for under $100 – and you’ll have two cheap spotlights you can use.

If you are crafty you could maybe screw these into some wood or a box or something, you may just want to get a sturdy professional lighting stand like one of these.

These pro lights require a good sized screw / bolt / or clamp, and a couple of good washers so you can attach them to something.

This gives you the benefits of having an in frame background light, without having to locate the actual fixture somewhere in the background. Not everyone has a nightstand in the background and a light that fits well into the webcam view. Many locations and angles make it impossible to locate a fixture, must less one that likely needs an electric plug, to fit into your scene at home.

More lights usually means more heat and wires. Keep safety and comfort in mind. Do NOT overload any extension cords. Do not use those real thin and cheap extension cords.

I would maybe rather go for an LED spotlight system, this would use less electricity, produce less heat, and the bulbs last longer. IT costs more upfront, and it’s a larger unit. So you might need to purchase and use safety cables and better clamps to mount a unit like the chauvet led pinspotter shown here, but if you have the space, you might want to go for it.

You may want to look at professional light holding clamps, these will make it easier to attach thing to other things.

With that in mind, as of this initial writing in early Spring, I have not yet tested them in cam, but I did just get a pair of playbulb LED batter powered “candles” that color change. I think these will work for many background lighting situations well.

Here’s to a good coming year. Let’s add some more lighting options to make it look ever better!