The Down & Dirty Lighting Kit

Oct 1 2012

We’ve received a bunch of questions about our lighting setups recently. While we could give you an exact list of what we’re using for studio lights, it’s not so much about the equipment as it is knowing a few basic lighting techniques. Remember the video we shot on an iPhone?

You don’t need to have a top-of-the-line lighting kit to make people look great on camera. Obviously it would be super sweet to have a 10-ton grip truck with a crew of gaffers at your disposal, but we don’t all have Lucasfilm budgets. And we don't all have hours to throw at elaborate lighting setups! But not to fear, because if you’re making your own video, you can still look dapper without breaking the bank.

We went to Home Depot and spent less than $100 buying the essential ingredients for a basic DIY lighting kit for shooting an interview. We could tell you how to do it, but why not show you?

Visit the Wistia Learning Center.

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While this is NOT the be-all, end-all lighting technique, it IS an attainable and repeatable way to keep people on camera looking like humans. Sure you can go crazy with intricate lighting setups or even use the fabled "3-point lighting" to create some shadows and modeling on your subject’s face. But for business video, it’s the “Wistia Way” to shoot interviews with flat and even lighting. And although we use higher quality studio lights for our typical setup, we think the video proves that you can get down-and-dirty with a basic lighting kit and still come out looking fresh!

We did it, you can too!

The equipment list:

Home Depot:

(x3) Clip Lights - $9 ea
(x3) Daylight Color CFL Bulbs (buy different wattage options for flexibility) - $2.75 ea
(x3) Spring Clips - $2 ea
(x3) 12ft Extension Cords - $2.50 ea
(x1) Package of Clothespins - $2.50 ea

Amazon:

(x3) Light Stands - $15 ea
(x2) Rosco Diffusion Material - $7 ea

If you want to save a trip to Home Depot, here are Amazon alternatives:

(x3) Scoop Lights
(x3) CFL Bulbs (note: look for daylight balanced “High-CRI” or “Full Spectrum” bulbs)
(x3) Spring Clips
(x3) 12ft Extension Cords
(x1) Package of Clothespins

How did you build your first lighting kit? What are your favorite lighting techniques and tricks?

Chris L. (5 Posts)

I have fun making videos. And I ski too.

Tags: lighting, video tools

This entry was posted on Monday, October 1st, 2012 at 1:08 pm and is filed under Making Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

marynwilliams

Great clear and simple instructions on a subject that everyone with a camera can benefit from knowing! Thank you.
http://twitter.com/rkreed Ryan Reed

No shadows from the camera/interviewer because both lights are offset by a good 20-30 degrees (depending on whether they have glasses) and we tend to shoot a little further back than you with a slightly longer lens, but you also don’t get quite as flat/nice a light as you do when you can use diffuse light up close. My favorite ‘subject delivering to the camera’ lighting setup (which we got from your videos, Chris) is still the diffuse ring light, but after a couple shoots with live subjects we had to rename it The Migrainator and relegate it to actors-only. I still don’t know how the heck you pull that off and get good content from non-actors.
http://twitter.com/ralenda Rafael Alenda

Once again, you guys kill it! thanks
http://brendanschwartz.com/ Brendan Schwartz

How do you know we’re not a company full of washed up actors trying to make it in the software business?
Ben Neale

Excellent post. Are you planning on publishing a chromakey tutorial?
I’d be interested in hearing about how to light for green screen.
http://www.coolsiteoftheday.com Mike Corso

Any trick to eliminating the glare from my eyeglasses? I do have anti-glare coating.

Mike
CoolSiteOfTheDay.com
Alyce

Chris says: Try getting the lights higher. If that doesn’t work, try spreading them apart a bit. You can also slide the glasses down the nose a bit as well. Hope that’s helpful!
http://twitter.com/JonathanDrake Jonathan Drake

just sent this to several people with home offices who need to have a video lighting setup but they only hear $$ when that happens.
v

what shotgun mic are you using? it sounds good!

also the stand for the mic?
Mike

Thanks so much! really appreciate the awesome tips
http://www.degconsulting.net/ Daniel Gold

I wanted to add to the scores of great comments here and … well … give you another really great comment! Kudos to you guys … this was awesome!! This page has become my little bible for producing video that we’ll get up and running in 2013. So, the only things that I did different – and still spent less than $100 – was build the light stands out of PVC piping! I saw this video: http://youtu.be/IxN8_0kNJPc. It’s so simple to build and does the trick. Oh, and I have a lav mike as opposed to the boom mic, but outside of that, I think I’ve done the trick! The only difficulty is playing with the angle of the light to avoid those shadows. In any event, kudos again guys! Great job!
Stefan

Great Video!
Knee Deep In Paradise

Very nice. What stand did you use for the back light? I didn’t see it on the list of stuff.
Caren Baginski

So glad I came across this article! I’m in the midst of building the setup you outlined above but, as a total video newbie, I’m not sure what CFL wattage equivalent bulbs I should get. What’s ideal? I ended up with a pack of 75 and 100 watt equivalents.
Barbara

That was awesome! If you only knew how long I have been searching for this info. Well, several horrible videos worth. Thanks!
http://www.facebook.com/rachel.stillpoint Kiki Lynn Renze

Awesome!! Very useful video. Now if I just had the space to do this…
http://twitter.com/Grobisen Martin Grobisen

I have been in film and TV forever and lighting is a passion of mine. Now that everyone and their 10 year old are video producers, it is great to have advice from sites like yours. This is a great article and the video demo on setting up the lighting will be valuable to the beginner.

I recently set up a mini-studio for a small law firm, very similar to your article including diffusion. The only differences, I chose a muslin backdrop and a lighting kit both purchased on ebay. I think the light kit is a better choice. By the time you purchase 3 inexpensive stands at $15 each, you can buy a complete kit for $60-150, fixtures, bulbs, umbrellas and stands.

I am not selling light kits, but your readers can search on ebay for: 3 Light Photo Lighting Kit and Photo Backdrop. I also recommend the book, How to Shoot Video That Doesn’t Suck: Advice to Make Any Amateur Look Like a Pro. A funny book with real life tips for the amateur.
http://twitter.com/Grobisen Martin Grobisen

No, that is just a bad idea. The diffusion mentioned in this article is designed for lighting and heat and …well not supposed to catch on fire!
Paul Feiger

Great info, thanks. One thing, the foreground music was too loud and made the receipt of the info difficult.
Paul Feiger
Rebecca Murray

Thanks for putting this video together. Really well done!
Conor

With the ME-66 do you have to buy the power capsule? I have an interview with one of my customers next week. Right now I have the Tascam dr-40. If I use the internal stereo mic function with a boom arm will that be ok for audio. I’m recording in a automobile shop and the shop will be closed down for the interview.
crlvideo

Hey @disqus_H0VTrq61dk:disqus…yes you do need to buy a power capsule. We use the K6 power capsule which lets you use Phantom Power or a AA battery. The DR-40 (seems similar to the h4n that we use) would probably work in a super quiet room. But in the automobile shop you’re filming in, your enemy may be nasty reverb. The ME-66 would be better at hiding the reverb and echo because it’s a directional microphone, as opposed to the DR-40 which is more of an omni-directional mic. Hope this helps!
Cody

The C47 name came from the fact that grips toss them around the set to whoever needs them. Like little wooden bombers. At least, that’s how it was told to me. Sounds dangerous…
George Whittam

The story I learned on set was that the grips would try to get the production to buy clothespins and they would fall off the budget list because none of the higher-ups knew what the hell they were for. When they changed the name to C47 it sounded technical and got it through the budget process. Boring story, I know…