Great photographs and video are well-lit. You’ll never find grainy shots in a portrait photographer’s portfolio. Nor would you find dark shadows lingering in the foreground (or background, for that matter) of a successful beauty vlogger’s latest haul-unboxing video. This is not all thanks to fancy, expensive cameras. More important is the proper use of good lighting. Great lighting can change the entire dynamic of a photograph or video. More specifically, learning how to use a ring light to its fullest potential will have you creating content that’s vivid, bright, and professional looking—even if you’re an amateur. With any of the Spectrum Aurora Ring Lights, you’ll find that creating the proper luminescence for your media is incredibly easy. It’s a must-have tool for content creators, bloggers, vloggers, Instagram influencers, portrait photographers, designers, artists, and so many more.
The standard set up for a ring light involves mounting the light in such a way that the camera is right in the middle of the ring. This creates an even halo of light around your subject. This technique will help you to achieve optimal results in both photo and video. For a tutorial on how to set up the Spectrum Aurora Ring Light, check out the video above to see how set up our Gold Luxe Ring Light. While using the ring light in the way it was intended is always recommended, we know that an artist’s job is to get creative.
Do you film makeup and beauty tutorials for Youtube or the ‘gram? Are you using a Spectrum Aurora ring light yet? If not, let us tell you why you should be: The competition for online content is steep in Australia, with so many influencers and beauty vloggers and bloggers generating high-quality photos and video to be viewed and shared. To compete, you need to up your lighting game.
Ring lights are particularly useful for beauty vloggers because of the way the light wraps around its subject—in this case, you. This effect casts a soft halo of light around the face, subsequently boosting your skin’s natural glow while reducing the appearance of blemishes and wrinkles. In fact, it’s kind of like becoming instantly youthful!
How to Use a Ring Light For Portrait Photography (Do's and Dont's)
Portrait photographers are aiming to capture their subject in the best light possible. With just one ring light, the face of your subject will be perfectly illuminated; making it easy for you to get that money shot. The diffused, warm light will make your subject really pop. And since a ring light enhances the look of the skin and features, much less editing will need to be done.
1. Position
Do: Position ring light directly in front of subject. Don't: Positioning the ring light at an angle will cause shadows (however if this is the effect you're after then play around with angles).
2. Brightness
Depending on the size of the subject and the surrounding environment, it's best to take a test photo first with your phone or camera and then adjust the brightness accordingly. When it is overexposed or underexposed, a lot of fine detail is lost and it is more difficult to edit the image too. 3. Colour Temperature
6000 Kelvin mimics natural daylight and therefore allows for a natural glow whereas 3000 Kelvin provides an orange sunlight glow which gives a bronzy and healthy skin glow perfect for a summer inspired look.
4. Distance
We recommend an arm's length from the face to the ring light for the subject to receive an even output of light.
5. Ambient Lighting
To achieve the best results from the Spectrum Aurora ring light, all ambient light will need to be eliminated by turning off all lights and blocking the light from the window.
How to Use a Ring Light For Beauty Tutorials
To create the perfect glow around your face with a ring light during a makeup tutorial, set up your camera—be it a mobile phone, tablet, or digital camera—using the mounts that come with your ring light. The mount will hold your camera firmly in place in the centre of the ring light. This keeps the light distributed ever so evenly and beautifully around your face.
Pair the Spectrum Aurora ring light with a half paper backdrop to add extra impact to your video. These paper roll backdrops come in 24 gorgeous colours and are high-quality, studio-grade backdrops that are perfect for any indoor ring-lit videography session. The paper roll backdrop is easy to set up with the Spectrum Backdrop Stand.
How to Use a Ring Light For Twitch Livestreams
Ring lights are also helpful for brightening up a Twitch live stream. Professional gamers might be able to relate to the allure of gaming in the dark, which certainly helps to block out all other visual distractions in order to focus on the game properly. However, a darkened live stream on Twitch won’t garner as many viewers as a well-lit live stream will. With the adjustable brightness on the Spectrum Aurora ring lights, your eyes won’t have to suffer, and your live stream will be bright for your followers to enjoy.
The LED continuous lighting provided by the professional ring light never flickers and it stays cool. You won’t be adding unnecessary heat to your gaming station. The ring light and your camera will have to be set up behind your gaming station, facing you. Your background should be plain and non-distracting. A solid-colour wall or paper backdrop behind you is ideal.
Use a Ring Light to Supercharge Your Portfolio
Makeup artists, brow and lash technicians, nail technicians, visual artists. and even tattoo artists should always photograph their work to add to their portfolio. Using a professional ring light will create studio quality lighting anywhere. Plus, the handy gooseneck that comes with the Spectrum Aurora ring light allows you to bend and adjust your light to photograph images at different angles.
For example, a nail technician can photograph their work with the model’s hands on a table by bending the gooseneck into a horizontal position. Tattoo artists will also find this feature quite convenient for capturing their ink work done on even the most obscure and hard-to-photograph places of the body.
Whether you’re a portrait photographer, influencer, vlogger, blogger, or a gamer, you’ll find that adding a ring light to your treasure chest of content-creation tools incredibly useful.
