Dissecting YouTube’s Strategy to Empower Short-Form Content Makers

YouTube offers content creators a platform for creating a lucrative career. Of the major developments made in the recent past is the introduction of Shorts. These short vertical videos have grown in popularity as more people view videos on their phones. With this development, the YouTube Shorts fund was launched to reward creators for their efforts. The fund allows creators to monetize their Shorts quickly, supporting and incentivizing them to create high-quality Shorts content. In this article, we will explore the YouTube Shorts Fund 2023, including YouTube shorts fund eligibility.

YouTube Shorts Monetization A cross-platform for taking your overexposed footage to cinema-quality Shorts video!

Free Download Free Download Learn More

Part 1. YouTube Shorts Fund: Introduction and Benefits

YouTube launched YouTube Shorts Funds in 2021 to financially support creators who produce engaging and popular Shorts content. The monetization scheme would distribute $100 million to high-performing creators on the platform. The creators would receive high engagement and views from their Shorts for funding.

The main objective of the YouTube Shorts fund is to encourage creativity, diversity, and innovation in Shorts content creation. The fund operated between 2021 and 2022. It lets creators earn $100 - $10,000 a month for their content.

Participating in YouTube Shorts Funds offer several benefits to the creators:

• Additional Exposure: YouTube Shorts are predominately featured on the homepage, allowing creators to reach more people.
• Recognition: YouTube recognizes top Shorts creators through the Shorts Funding program, encouraging them to create more quality content.
• Potential Earnings: Creators can monetize their Shorts content in several ways including adding and other unique features.

YouTube incorporated monetization of Shorts in its YouTube Partner Program (YPP). Therefore, YouTube merged the Shorts Fund with the YPP in February 2023. This led to YouTube Shorts Fund 2023 which now offers creators more opportunities to make money quickly on YouTube.

Part 2. Making Money with YouTube Shorts: Eligibility and Earnings

The new YouTube Shorts monetization policy means that content creators on YouTube with access to the YPP can also earn from Shorts. The revenue-sharing model has now taken the place of the YouTube Shorts Fund, which only rewarded creators using YouTube’s money. However, creators don’t have to be members of the YPP to start receiving YouTube Shorts funding. They only need to meet certain requirements, make unique content, and adhere to Community Guidelines.

• YouTube Shorts Fund Eligibility
• Additional Steps of Actions to Activate YouTube Shorts Funding
• What the YPP Shorts Fund Entails
• How Much Can You Make with Short

YouTube Shorts Fund Eligibility

As of 2023, YouTube offers Shorts Funding as a monetization option. Creators can also choose to monetize with YPP combined with Shorts Fundings.

The eligibility requirements for Shorts funding include:

• At least 1,000 subscribers
• At least 10 million public Shorts views in the last 90 days

To become a member of the YPP and start accessing Shorts funding this way, the minimum requirements are as follows:

• At least 500 subscribers (You previously needed 1,000)
• At least 3,000 public watch hours over the last 13 months (You previously needed 4,000)

Additional Steps of Actions to Activate YouTube Shorts Funding

In addition to the basic eligibility requirements, creators are also required to take additional measures to comply with YouTube’s requirements. Additional steps include:

• Ensuring AdSense Account is active and in good standing: Since ad revenue will be paid through AdSense, you need to make sure your account is in good standing.
• Review and Accept the Terms of Shorts Monetization Module: In the YouTube Studio, head over to the Shorts Fund section and click on the Terms and Conditions link.
• Enable Monetization for Individual Shorts: Edit the monetization settings for each Short to start generating ad revenue.
• Comply with YouTube Policies and Guidelines: Visit the YouTube Creator Academy to learn more about the platform’s policies and guidelines.

What the YPP Shorts Fund Entails

The YPP Shorts Fund program includes the following features:

• Watch Page Monetization – Creators earn ad revenue from long-form content, YouTube Premium content, and live streams
• Shorts Monetization Module – Creators earn money from ads that play between YouTube Shorts.
• Commerce Product Addendum – Additional monetization features, including Super Chats. Channel Memberships, Super Thanks, and Super Stickers.

How Much Can You Make with Short s

The amount of money you can make on Shorts often varies. It can be hard to make decent money on Shorts sometimes, and other times it brings in a nice chunk of revenue. Unfortunately, the earnings are not as spectacular as the long YouTube videos. Most creators agree that the revenue per thousand views (RPM) for shorts is around $0.05 - $0.07. This would translate to about $50 - $70 for a million Shorts views. Although the ad revenue is relatively lower, you can generate more revenue with the shopping features. This will depend on how wee you keep your audience active and engaged.

Part 3. How to Use YouTube Shorts Funding: Application and Activation

The process of applying for and activating YouTube Short Funding is simple. You need to accept the Shorts Monetization Module in your terms and conditions. After activating, monetization starts immediately.

Head over to the YouTube Studio. Sign in to your account to accept the terms. Be sure to use a web browser because the YouTube app will not allow you to make these changes. Accept the terms and follow these steps to turn on the ads:

1. Setp 1: Click the Content button at the bottom of the menu in the YouTube Studio
2. Setp 2: Pick the video you want to monetize, and click Edit
3. Setp 3: Select the Earn tab pick on, and choose the ads you want to turn on.
4. Setp 4: Save your settings and the ads will be active.

Part 4. Editing YouTube Shorts for More Revenue with Wondershare Filmora

The best way to earn from the YouTube Shorts Fund is to create quality content. With good video editing software, you can achieve this and build a community of subscribers. Wondershare Filmora is a video editing software that is effective in creating quality Shorts videos. It supports various video resolutions, including vertical videos. It also has some fascinating features that make every creation unique and exciting. Take your overexposed footage to cinema-quality Shorts video that will keep your audience engaged.

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Filmora can help create visually appealing and engaging videos, ultimately increasing the chances of monetization on YouTube. The following features make editing videos on Filmora quick and easy.

1. Auto Reframe

You may have recorded horizontal videos and want to upload them as Shorts. The Auto Reframe feature allows you to automatically resize the video in seconds. You only need to choose the clip you want to resize and reframe it. No editing skills are required to do this.

2. Add Text to Video

Texts tell the audience what is happening in the video. It is also a great way to highlight major events in YouTube Shorts. The Add Text to Video feature on Filmora makes it easy to add text or captions to your videos.

3. Auto Synchronization

When editing Shorts, you will likely add many footage in a short video. It is common for the audio to end up being where it is not supposed to. The Auto Synchronization feature is the ultimate audio sync. It effortlessly matches your audio with the video, making sure viewers see what they hear

4. Mask & Blend

Creativity is a major component of YouTube Shorts content. The Filmora Masking and Blending mode helps you make creative video clips. It comes with a pen tool for creating free-form shapes on the go. Make your videos more impressive to your audience.

5. Auto Beat Sync

With YouTube Shorts, you need to entertain your audience in under a minute. A combination of visual and audio elements makes the video more entertaining. The Auto Beat Sync feature matches the footage with the music automatically. Be sure every beat corresponds to the scene.

Conclusion

The YouTube Shorts Fund offers an exceptional for creators to make additional income on the platform. Although the original Funds program has been updated with the latest monetization policy, creators can still generate nice revenue amount. As a creator, you need to publish quality and highly engaging content. With Wondershare Filmora, you can create content that will generate more revenue on the Shorts platform. The video editing software offers fantastic features that make video editing quick and fun.

Free Download Free Download Learn More

Part 1. YouTube Shorts Fund: Introduction and Benefits

YouTube launched YouTube Shorts Funds in 2021 to financially support creators who produce engaging and popular Shorts content. The monetization scheme would distribute $100 million to high-performing creators on the platform. The creators would receive high engagement and views from their Shorts for funding.

The main objective of the YouTube Shorts fund is to encourage creativity, diversity, and innovation in Shorts content creation. The fund operated between 2021 and 2022. It lets creators earn $100 - $10,000 a month for their content.

Participating in YouTube Shorts Funds offer several benefits to the creators:

• Additional Exposure: YouTube Shorts are predominately featured on the homepage, allowing creators to reach more people.
• Recognition: YouTube recognizes top Shorts creators through the Shorts Funding program, encouraging them to create more quality content.
• Potential Earnings: Creators can monetize their Shorts content in several ways including adding and other unique features.

YouTube incorporated monetization of Shorts in its YouTube Partner Program (YPP). Therefore, YouTube merged the Shorts Fund with the YPP in February 2023. This led to YouTube Shorts Fund 2023 which now offers creators more opportunities to make money quickly on YouTube.

Part 2. Making Money with YouTube Shorts: Eligibility and Earnings

The new YouTube Shorts monetization policy means that content creators on YouTube with access to the YPP can also earn from Shorts. The revenue-sharing model has now taken the place of the YouTube Shorts Fund, which only rewarded creators using YouTube’s money. However, creators don’t have to be members of the YPP to start receiving YouTube Shorts funding. They only need to meet certain requirements, make unique content, and adhere to Community Guidelines.

• YouTube Shorts Fund Eligibility
• Additional Steps of Actions to Activate YouTube Shorts Funding
• What the YPP Shorts Fund Entails
• How Much Can You Make with Short

YouTube Shorts Fund Eligibility

As of 2023, YouTube offers Shorts Funding as a monetization option. Creators can also choose to monetize with YPP combined with Shorts Fundings.

The eligibility requirements for Shorts funding include:

• At least 1,000 subscribers
• At least 10 million public Shorts views in the last 90 days

To become a member of the YPP and start accessing Shorts funding this way, the minimum requirements are as follows:

• At least 500 subscribers (You previously needed 1,000)
• At least 3,000 public watch hours over the last 13 months (You previously needed 4,000)

Additional Steps of Actions to Activate YouTube Shorts Funding

In addition to the basic eligibility requirements, creators are also required to take additional measures to comply with YouTube’s requirements. Additional steps include:

• Ensuring AdSense Account is active and in good standing: Since ad revenue will be paid through AdSense, you need to make sure your account is in good standing.
• Review and Accept the Terms of Shorts Monetization Module: In the YouTube Studio, head over to the Shorts Fund section and click on the Terms and Conditions link.
• Enable Monetization for Individual Shorts: Edit the monetization settings for each Short to start generating ad revenue.
• Comply with YouTube Policies and Guidelines: Visit the YouTube Creator Academy to learn more about the platform’s policies and guidelines.

What the YPP Shorts Fund Entails

The YPP Shorts Fund program includes the following features:

• Watch Page Monetization – Creators earn ad revenue from long-form content, YouTube Premium content, and live streams
• Shorts Monetization Module – Creators earn money from ads that play between YouTube Shorts.
• Commerce Product Addendum – Additional monetization features, including Super Chats. Channel Memberships, Super Thanks, and Super Stickers.

How Much Can You Make with Short s

The amount of money you can make on Shorts often varies. It can be hard to make decent money on Shorts sometimes, and other times it brings in a nice chunk of revenue. Unfortunately, the earnings are not as spectacular as the long YouTube videos. Most creators agree that the revenue per thousand views (RPM) for shorts is around $0.05 - $0.07. This would translate to about $50 - $70 for a million Shorts views. Although the ad revenue is relatively lower, you can generate more revenue with the shopping features. This will depend on how wee you keep your audience active and engaged.

Part 3. How to Use YouTube Shorts Funding: Application and Activation

The process of applying for and activating YouTube Short Funding is simple. You need to accept the Shorts Monetization Module in your terms and conditions. After activating, monetization starts immediately.

Head over to the YouTube Studio. Sign in to your account to accept the terms. Be sure to use a web browser because the YouTube app will not allow you to make these changes. Accept the terms and follow these steps to turn on the ads:

1. Setp 1: Click the Content button at the bottom of the menu in the YouTube Studio
2. Setp 2: Pick the video you want to monetize, and click Edit
3. Setp 3: Select the Earn tab pick on, and choose the ads you want to turn on.
4. Setp 4: Save your settings and the ads will be active.

Part 4. Editing YouTube Shorts for More Revenue with Wondershare Filmora

The best way to earn from the YouTube Shorts Fund is to create quality content. With good video editing software, you can achieve this and build a community of subscribers. Wondershare Filmora is a video editing software that is effective in creating quality Shorts videos. It supports various video resolutions, including vertical videos. It also has some fascinating features that make every creation unique and exciting. Take your overexposed footage to cinema-quality Shorts video that will keep your audience engaged.

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Filmora can help create visually appealing and engaging videos, ultimately increasing the chances of monetization on YouTube. The following features make editing videos on Filmora quick and easy.

1. Auto Reframe

You may have recorded horizontal videos and want to upload them as Shorts. The Auto Reframe feature allows you to automatically resize the video in seconds. You only need to choose the clip you want to resize and reframe it. No editing skills are required to do this.

2. Add Text to Video

Texts tell the audience what is happening in the video. It is also a great way to highlight major events in YouTube Shorts. The Add Text to Video feature on Filmora makes it easy to add text or captions to your videos.

3. Auto Synchronization

When editing Shorts, you will likely add many footage in a short video. It is common for the audio to end up being where it is not supposed to. The Auto Synchronization feature is the ultimate audio sync. It effortlessly matches your audio with the video, making sure viewers see what they hear

4. Mask & Blend

Creativity is a major component of YouTube Shorts content. The Filmora Masking and Blending mode helps you make creative video clips. It comes with a pen tool for creating free-form shapes on the go. Make your videos more impressive to your audience.

5. Auto Beat Sync

With YouTube Shorts, you need to entertain your audience in under a minute. A combination of visual and audio elements makes the video more entertaining. The Auto Beat Sync feature matches the footage with the music automatically. Be sure every beat corresponds to the scene.

Conclusion

The YouTube Shorts Fund offers an exceptional for creators to make additional income on the platform. Although the original Funds program has been updated with the latest monetization policy, creators can still generate nice revenue amount. As a creator, you need to publish quality and highly engaging content. With Wondershare Filmora, you can create content that will generate more revenue on the Shorts platform. The video editing software offers fantastic features that make video editing quick and fun.

The Role of Lighting in Professional YouTube Content Creation

How To Light Your YouTube Video

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

When it comes to sensitivity to light, no consumer-level camera sensor comes close in performance to the human eye. Many newbies to videography, though, don’t think about this when they use their camera indoors and discover that their recorded footage appears too dark.

If you want to use your camera indoors as many YouTubers do, you’ll need to have extra light. But the solution is not as simple as surrounding yourself with lamps that are all randomly placed.

Below, I’ll go into detail on how you can set up your lighting equipment to make your YouTube videos look good.

Table of Contents Using Light You Already Have Window LightingHome Lighting Home Studio Lighting Light Control3-Point Lighting4-Point Lighting

Part 1: Using Light You Already Have

Most beginner YouTubers light their videos with what they already have. That’s what I did to start as well. In the past, my video recording space consisted of natural sunlight coming from my window and ceiling light for times when the sunlight wasn’t strong enough.

1. Window Lighting

The best thing about window lighting is that it’s free. The worst thing about it is that it’s uncontrollable. The amount of light you get in your video can vary with all the changes in the weather.

Window lighting for me was especially difficult to work with because I live in a very rainy and cloudy city, Vancouver, Canada, where we pretty much just get three months of good sun.

Above are two freeze frames from one of Daniel’s past window-lit vlogs. Although these two frames are both from the same vlog, you can see that the image on the right looks brighter due to clearer skies at that moment. These varying amounts of light is what you will have to deal with if you choose to light your YouTube video with window lighting.

2. Home Lighting

Home lighting is another source of light that many new YouTubers use. In the past, when my window light wasn’t strong enough to light my video recording space, I would turn on the ceiling light.

Notice how the color of Daniel’s skin looks much more orange here (above) than the color of the skin in the two side-by-side window lighting examples? The side of the face also appears to look bluer. This all happened because he mixed up different color temperatures shining out of the two lights (cooler window light and warmer ceiling light).

Most home lighting is warmer in its color temperature. If you want to use your home lights without everything being orange-tinted, you’ll need to switch out your light bulbs for daytime LED light bulbs.

Ceiling lights are also typically situated in the center of a room in order to light an entire room evenly. This is not likely to be the best location for your filming video. Since the ceiling light was directly above the face in the above example, you can see harder shadows beneath his cheeks.

Part 2: Home Studio Lighting

If you rather not deal with all the window and home lighting challenges, you can set up studio lighting in your home.

1. Light Control

The first thing you’ll want to do to set up studio lighting in your home is to pick a room to film in and eliminate as much external lighting as you can. Use blinds, curtains, towels, or any thick fabric to block sunlight from shining into your room.

2. 3-Point Lighting

The most common setup for studio lighting is 3-point lighting. For this kind of lighting you’ll need three lights: a key light, a fill light, and a back light (also called a hair light).

Out of the three lights, the key light should be the brightest. When it is positioned to the left of you (as shown in the diagram above) your right side will have shadows.

To minimize the shadows on your right side, use a weaker light as a fill light. You don’t want your fill light to completely eliminate all your shadows or else your shot will look flat.

Lastly, a backlight positioned behind you can give an appealing highlight to the ends of your head and even help to separate your hair from blending into your background if both happen to be dark.

3. 4-Point Lighting

As a YouTuber, you may not only want yourself to be seen optimally with proper lighting, but you may also want your background to be seen optimally, especially if you’ve taken the time to decorate it for your audience.

What you’ll need to ensure that your background is sufficiently lit is 4-point lighting setup. The 4-point lighting setup is the same as a 3-point lighting setup, but with an additional light shining at your background.

For more information on lighting equipment, check out my Top 17 Video Lighting Equipment For YouTubers .

Touch Up YouTube Videos with Filmora

Filmora is one of the best video editing software for YouTube beginners to start the YouTube channel. So, if you find the lighting isn’t perfect after recording, you can use the Auto Color Enhancement feature in Filmora to adjust the color with one-click. Or, you can change the white balance, Light, color, and HSL manually. Filmora also features some presets and LUTs templates , which allows you to apply pre-programmed effects to video for color correction faster.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

When it comes to sensitivity to light, no consumer-level camera sensor comes close in performance to the human eye. Many newbies to videography, though, don’t think about this when they use their camera indoors and discover that their recorded footage appears too dark.

If you want to use your camera indoors as many YouTubers do, you’ll need to have extra light. But the solution is not as simple as surrounding yourself with lamps that are all randomly placed.

Below, I’ll go into detail on how you can set up your lighting equipment to make your YouTube videos look good.

Table of Contents Using Light You Already Have Window LightingHome Lighting Home Studio Lighting Light Control3-Point Lighting4-Point Lighting

Part 1: Using Light You Already Have

Most beginner YouTubers light their videos with what they already have. That’s what I did to start as well. In the past, my video recording space consisted of natural sunlight coming from my window and ceiling light for times when the sunlight wasn’t strong enough.

1. Window Lighting

The best thing about window lighting is that it’s free. The worst thing about it is that it’s uncontrollable. The amount of light you get in your video can vary with all the changes in the weather.

Window lighting for me was especially difficult to work with because I live in a very rainy and cloudy city, Vancouver, Canada, where we pretty much just get three months of good sun.

Above are two freeze frames from one of Daniel’s past window-lit vlogs. Although these two frames are both from the same vlog, you can see that the image on the right looks brighter due to clearer skies at that moment. These varying amounts of light is what you will have to deal with if you choose to light your YouTube video with window lighting.

2. Home Lighting

Home lighting is another source of light that many new YouTubers use. In the past, when my window light wasn’t strong enough to light my video recording space, I would turn on the ceiling light.

Notice how the color of Daniel’s skin looks much more orange here (above) than the color of the skin in the two side-by-side window lighting examples? The side of the face also appears to look bluer. This all happened because he mixed up different color temperatures shining out of the two lights (cooler window light and warmer ceiling light).

Most home lighting is warmer in its color temperature. If you want to use your home lights without everything being orange-tinted, you’ll need to switch out your light bulbs for daytime LED light bulbs.

Ceiling lights are also typically situated in the center of a room in order to light an entire room evenly. This is not likely to be the best location for your filming video. Since the ceiling light was directly above the face in the above example, you can see harder shadows beneath his cheeks.

Part 2: Home Studio Lighting

If you rather not deal with all the window and home lighting challenges, you can set up studio lighting in your home.

1. Light Control

The first thing you’ll want to do to set up studio lighting in your home is to pick a room to film in and eliminate as much external lighting as you can. Use blinds, curtains, towels, or any thick fabric to block sunlight from shining into your room.

2. 3-Point Lighting

The most common setup for studio lighting is 3-point lighting. For this kind of lighting you’ll need three lights: a key light, a fill light, and a back light (also called a hair light).

Out of the three lights, the key light should be the brightest. When it is positioned to the left of you (as shown in the diagram above) your right side will have shadows.

To minimize the shadows on your right side, use a weaker light as a fill light. You don’t want your fill light to completely eliminate all your shadows or else your shot will look flat.

Lastly, a backlight positioned behind you can give an appealing highlight to the ends of your head and even help to separate your hair from blending into your background if both happen to be dark.

3. 4-Point Lighting

As a YouTuber, you may not only want yourself to be seen optimally with proper lighting, but you may also want your background to be seen optimally, especially if you’ve taken the time to decorate it for your audience.

What you’ll need to ensure that your background is sufficiently lit is 4-point lighting setup. The 4-point lighting setup is the same as a 3-point lighting setup, but with an additional light shining at your background.

For more information on lighting equipment, check out my Top 17 Video Lighting Equipment For YouTubers .

Touch Up YouTube Videos with Filmora

Filmora is one of the best video editing software for YouTube beginners to start the YouTube channel. So, if you find the lighting isn’t perfect after recording, you can use the Auto Color Enhancement feature in Filmora to adjust the color with one-click. Or, you can change the white balance, Light, color, and HSL manually. Filmora also features some presets and LUTs templates , which allows you to apply pre-programmed effects to video for color correction faster.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

When it comes to sensitivity to light, no consumer-level camera sensor comes close in performance to the human eye. Many newbies to videography, though, don’t think about this when they use their camera indoors and discover that their recorded footage appears too dark.

If you want to use your camera indoors as many YouTubers do, you’ll need to have extra light. But the solution is not as simple as surrounding yourself with lamps that are all randomly placed.

Below, I’ll go into detail on how you can set up your lighting equipment to make your YouTube videos look good.

Table of Contents Using Light You Already Have Window LightingHome Lighting Home Studio Lighting Light Control3-Point Lighting4-Point Lighting

Part 1: Using Light You Already Have

Most beginner YouTubers light their videos with what they already have. That’s what I did to start as well. In the past, my video recording space consisted of natural sunlight coming from my window and ceiling light for times when the sunlight wasn’t strong enough.

1. Window Lighting

The best thing about window lighting is that it’s free. The worst thing about it is that it’s uncontrollable. The amount of light you get in your video can vary with all the changes in the weather.

Window lighting for me was especially difficult to work with because I live in a very rainy and cloudy city, Vancouver, Canada, where we pretty much just get three months of good sun.

Above are two freeze frames from one of Daniel’s past window-lit vlogs. Although these two frames are both from the same vlog, you can see that the image on the right looks brighter due to clearer skies at that moment. These varying amounts of light is what you will have to deal with if you choose to light your YouTube video with window lighting.

2. Home Lighting

Home lighting is another source of light that many new YouTubers use. In the past, when my window light wasn’t strong enough to light my video recording space, I would turn on the ceiling light.

Notice how the color of Daniel’s skin looks much more orange here (above) than the color of the skin in the two side-by-side window lighting examples? The side of the face also appears to look bluer. This all happened because he mixed up different color temperatures shining out of the two lights (cooler window light and warmer ceiling light).

Most home lighting is warmer in its color temperature. If you want to use your home lights without everything being orange-tinted, you’ll need to switch out your light bulbs for daytime LED light bulbs.

Ceiling lights are also typically situated in the center of a room in order to light an entire room evenly. This is not likely to be the best location for your filming video. Since the ceiling light was directly above the face in the above example, you can see harder shadows beneath his cheeks.

Part 2: Home Studio Lighting

If you rather not deal with all the window and home lighting challenges, you can set up studio lighting in your home.

1. Light Control

The first thing you’ll want to do to set up studio lighting in your home is to pick a room to film in and eliminate as much external lighting as you can. Use blinds, curtains, towels, or any thick fabric to block sunlight from shining into your room.

2. 3-Point Lighting

The most common setup for studio lighting is 3-point lighting. For this kind of lighting you’ll need three lights: a key light, a fill light, and a back light (also called a hair light).

Out of the three lights, the key light should be the brightest. When it is positioned to the left of you (as shown in the diagram above) your right side will have shadows.

To minimize the shadows on your right side, use a weaker light as a fill light. You don’t want your fill light to completely eliminate all your shadows or else your shot will look flat.

Lastly, a backlight positioned behind you can give an appealing highlight to the ends of your head and even help to separate your hair from blending into your background if both happen to be dark.

3. 4-Point Lighting

As a YouTuber, you may not only want yourself to be seen optimally with proper lighting, but you may also want your background to be seen optimally, especially if you’ve taken the time to decorate it for your audience.

What you’ll need to ensure that your background is sufficiently lit is 4-point lighting setup. The 4-point lighting setup is the same as a 3-point lighting setup, but with an additional light shining at your background.

For more information on lighting equipment, check out my Top 17 Video Lighting Equipment For YouTubers .

Touch Up YouTube Videos with Filmora

Filmora is one of the best video editing software for YouTube beginners to start the YouTube channel. So, if you find the lighting isn’t perfect after recording, you can use the Auto Color Enhancement feature in Filmora to adjust the color with one-click. Or, you can change the white balance, Light, color, and HSL manually. Filmora also features some presets and LUTs templates , which allows you to apply pre-programmed effects to video for color correction faster.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

When it comes to sensitivity to light, no consumer-level camera sensor comes close in performance to the human eye. Many newbies to videography, though, don’t think about this when they use their camera indoors and discover that their recorded footage appears too dark.

If you want to use your camera indoors as many YouTubers do, you’ll need to have extra light. But the solution is not as simple as surrounding yourself with lamps that are all randomly placed.

Below, I’ll go into detail on how you can set up your lighting equipment to make your YouTube videos look good.

Table of Contents Using Light You Already Have Window LightingHome Lighting Home Studio Lighting Light Control3-Point Lighting4-Point Lighting

Part 1: Using Light You Already Have

Most beginner YouTubers light their videos with what they already have. That’s what I did to start as well. In the past, my video recording space consisted of natural sunlight coming from my window and ceiling light for times when the sunlight wasn’t strong enough.

1. Window Lighting

The best thing about window lighting is that it’s free. The worst thing about it is that it’s uncontrollable. The amount of light you get in your video can vary with all the changes in the weather.

Window lighting for me was especially difficult to work with because I live in a very rainy and cloudy city, Vancouver, Canada, where we pretty much just get three months of good sun.

Above are two freeze frames from one of Daniel’s past window-lit vlogs. Although these two frames are both from the same vlog, you can see that the image on the right looks brighter due to clearer skies at that moment. These varying amounts of light is what you will have to deal with if you choose to light your YouTube video with window lighting.

2. Home Lighting

Home lighting is another source of light that many new YouTubers use. In the past, when my window light wasn’t strong enough to light my video recording space, I would turn on the ceiling light.

Notice how the color of Daniel’s skin looks much more orange here (above) than the color of the skin in the two side-by-side window lighting examples? The side of the face also appears to look bluer. This all happened because he mixed up different color temperatures shining out of the two lights (cooler window light and warmer ceiling light).

Most home lighting is warmer in its color temperature. If you want to use your home lights without everything being orange-tinted, you’ll need to switch out your light bulbs for daytime LED light bulbs.

Ceiling lights are also typically situated in the center of a room in order to light an entire room evenly. This is not likely to be the best location for your filming video. Since the ceiling light was directly above the face in the above example, you can see harder shadows beneath his cheeks.

Part 2: Home Studio Lighting

If you rather not deal with all the window and home lighting challenges, you can set up studio lighting in your home.

1. Light Control

The first thing you’ll want to do to set up studio lighting in your home is to pick a room to film in and eliminate as much external lighting as you can. Use blinds, curtains, towels, or any thick fabric to block sunlight from shining into your room.

2. 3-Point Lighting

The most common setup for studio lighting is 3-point lighting. For this kind of lighting you’ll need three lights: a key light, a fill light, and a back light (also called a hair light).

Out of the three lights, the key light should be the brightest. When it is positioned to the left of you (as shown in the diagram above) your right side will have shadows.

To minimize the shadows on your right side, use a weaker light as a fill light. You don’t want your fill light to completely eliminate all your shadows or else your shot will look flat.

Lastly, a backlight positioned behind you can give an appealing highlight to the ends of your head and even help to separate your hair from blending into your background if both happen to be dark.

3. 4-Point Lighting

As a YouTuber, you may not only want yourself to be seen optimally with proper lighting, but you may also want your background to be seen optimally, especially if you’ve taken the time to decorate it for your audience.

What you’ll need to ensure that your background is sufficiently lit is 4-point lighting setup. The 4-point lighting setup is the same as a 3-point lighting setup, but with an additional light shining at your background.

For more information on lighting equipment, check out my Top 17 Video Lighting Equipment For YouTubers .

Touch Up YouTube Videos with Filmora

Filmora is one of the best video editing software for YouTube beginners to start the YouTube channel. So, if you find the lighting isn’t perfect after recording, you can use the Auto Color Enhancement feature in Filmora to adjust the color with one-click. Or, you can change the white balance, Light, color, and HSL manually. Filmora also features some presets and LUTs templates , which allows you to apply pre-programmed effects to video for color correction faster.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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