Lighting is a powerful way to instantly level up the quality of your videos. But when you are first starting out it can be overwhelming because there are so many light options to choose from. That's why today I want to break down two of the most popular lights that people consider purchasing. LED panels and soft boxes. We'll talk about the pros and the cons of each so that you can find the right type of light for you.
LED panels are an awesome tool because they are small, portable, oftentimes battery powered, and have a ton of built-in effects. They are the flashier of the two options. I think a lot of people choose to go with LED panels these days because of the size and the functions.
The thought is if I'm gonna buy a light, well I might as well buy one that can do a bunch of cool colors and effects. And while they are awesome, I usually don't recommend them to people who are looking to buy their first light because they're just not quite as flattering for lighting people. Because they're typically smaller, they actually emit a harsher light, which is just not as flattering.
So then why even consider buying an LED panel? Well, they are still awesome for lighting the rest of your scene, especially your background. They can also be great for some really cool creative lighting. You can also get softer looks out of your LED panels by shooting through the inside piece of a 5-in-1 reflector which will act as a large source of diffusion, or you could even bounce the light off of a large white surface. So they really are still a great pick.
If you are looking for some nice LED panel options, there's two that I really like to recommend. First is the G2 Pocket RGB light, which is actually the light that I'm using right now. It is the most used LED panel that I have because it's so small but still very strong.
It has a lot of great effects and it's only around $70. But if you are in the market for something a little bit stronger and brighter, I would recommend checking out the GBM 50RS light kit. These are a little bit more expensive but they really just have a lot of output and are really fun to use.
I actually have a full video on those lights so if you're interested I will link that down in the description below. But that's enough about LED panels, now let's talk about soft boxes. Softbox style lights are what I would recommend as your first light. Although they're not typically as flashy, they are functional and they give off a more flattering look for you or your subject.
You can get great results with softboxes because the actual box that goes around the light creates a larger light source. The larger the light source and the closer it is, the softer the shadows will be. For today's example, I am using a softbox light kit from mountdog. I love this light because it's dimmable, Color temperature adjustable, remote control operated, and it comes with the light, the softbox, a light stand, the remote, and a carrying case all for just about $50.
It is such a great light for YouTube videos. Another way to achieve soft lighting that you should know about are spotlights. Spotlights are cool because the actual light is fairly small but they can receive different types of attachments. Similar to how DSLR or mirrorless cameras can interchange their lenses to achieve different looks, spotlights can receive different types of mounts to achieve different looks.
You can use soft boxes, cones, or even snoots with gobos to achieve different styles. These spotlights will be brighter and powerful, but they are oftentimes a bit heavier. louder and need to be plugged in. But they can achieve some amazing results especially if you are needing to light up a whole room or maybe multiple people.
One of my favorite spotlight setups is the GVM 100W paired with a softbox lantern. It's actually the light that I'm using right now and I do have a video all about it which I'll link in the description below. Now the thing that I actually like to do is to pair softbox style lights With LED panels. Let me show you. Check out this example while I tell you about today's sponsor, which is actually myself.
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So to recap, softboxes are what I would recommend for lighting people, whereas LED panels are great for lighting different parts of your scene like the background or doing some creative choices. The trick is to know the strengths and weaknesses of either light and then to experiment so that you can really dial in and find your own look. Getting your videos to look good is awesome but not if no one can even find them.
And that has a lot less to do with lighting and a lot more to do with titles. If you want to learn some amazing title strategies that will help position your video well to get the click Continue on to this video here, and as always, stay creative. Peace!