Lighting help (pale person here!)

[BreeGranger]

Hey everyone, I recently moved into a new rental and cannot for the life of me figure out how to light here. I either look all shiny and ghost white, or I look dull/dead. I have tried moving lights, switching out regular bulbs for softer bulbs, moving furniture/my desk and cam. I'm just not sure where to go from here and was hoping lighting experts had some suggestions for me!

I can't open the curtains for natural light as it comes and goes and looks really crappy when it transitions. I own a lamp with 3 shades, have an overhead light with 4 bulbs, and two umbrella lights. I would like my mood lighting behind me to show up, but I can do without as long as I look ok.

I am using a logitech c920. My walls are a super ugly yellow and brown two tone that I cannot change. This is pretty much the only place I can cam from with an actual set up. I was hoping to also film clips in here, but I can do that in one of the other rooms if necessary. I've never had this trouble with lighting before, I am used to having like one lamp on and being perfect lol.

I have attached pictures of my two types of looks, neither of which are particularly flattering. Help! For reference, ghost picture is with one bulb (soft light) behind cam not directly pointed at me, second I have 4 overhead bulbs on, three bulbs to the side of the camera, and a umbrella light on? How it looks that dark I have no clue.

 

[rstanton]

I would try some lighting from the side. Try moving a single light 180 degrees around you and see if one looks good. It's best to start simple when solving lighting problems.

 

[Lelo1]

Have you tried changing the Properties to your webcam?.

 

[NerdyZoey]

I’m a redhead naturally and have this issue no matter where o place my lights. I use airbrush legs and some bronzer on my chest to make it go away

 

[DJ_Pioneer]

I have had similar problems with my lighting setup. The easiest way to make a light softer is to move it further away from the subject, however that might not be possible in your case since you seem to be sitting at a desk and my guess is that you have a wall behind it like I have. What I did was to get dimmable light bulbs for the two lights in front of me and that has worked out well for me, I get enough light on me without ending up looking like a ghost person.

 

[SaffronBurke]

Have you tried changing the Properties to your webcam?.

This!

My pasty ass literally has to adjust my settings EVERY time I cam, doesn't matter if it was two hours ago or two months ago. I can usually toggle auto on for everything so it gets where it needs to be, then switch auto off and everything stays at those positions, then I click save. If things are looking too red or too blue after the auto-adjustments, I scooch the white balance back and forth in tiny increments until it looks right. Sometimes I dip into the other settings, too, if things still look off, but I usually don't need to.

I typically cam with one umbrella light off to the side, behind my desk. My room is TINY, so it doesn't take much to light it. I used to use one on each side of the desk, but summer with no air conditioning happened. Come winter, I'll be using both again to keep my room warm.

 

[Sillykitty]

I threw some medium pink colored fabric over my soft box that I use for a fill light, and I have a cream coloured shirt that I threw over my other more direct light to soften it (it's one of those cheap many bulb lamps, I use white bulbs, one red, and 2 orange as well to give my skin some color). This makes my feed pink at first, then I adjust the settings in my cam until the white balance makes me look clear and normal, without looking like a ghost because I am literally so pale. I also amp up my blush in a color that I would never wear in person. Off cam, it looks like clown makeup to me, but on cam it looks like a healthy natural glow when I have the pink "filters" on.

 

[JickyJuly]

I will never have red hair on camera again. Way too much work to make look right. Hehehe. I would probs just turn the contrast up and call it good if I were you.

 

[BreeGranger]

Have you tried changing the Properties to your webcam?.

Yes I do the white paper thing to adjust my white balance before logging on each time and it doesn't help much.

I will try the set up in the diagram you posted, I am missing the second side of me being lit so maybe that is the problem? I think I'm going to move my desk a bit so I can get the lights behind it as well. Thanks!

 

[DearestVixen]

Also diffusing the lights by pointing them at the wall can help, I have an overhead light and then one light I point toward the wall in front of me at about at 50 degree angle from me. I then have to adjust all my settings (typically gain pretty high, exposure middling, contrast middle-high, and white balance varies but usually pretty high). I'd suggest maybe some pink bulbs though or yellow ones, they'll likely come off looking better on cam than bright white/florescent.

When you have the lighting in the second picture try upping your gain and exposure and see if you can get a nice look with that. The second picture usually is about what I look like before I mess with my settings.
Here's an example, I have all my lights off, just diffused natural light in this photo and you can see how much it changes with exposure and gain. I'm guessing you've already tried this but hopefully it can help others who have this problem.

 

[BreeGranger]

Also diffusing the lights by pointing them at the wall can help, I have an overhead light and then one light I point toward the wall in front of me at about at 50 degree angle from me. I then have to adjust all my settings (typically gain pretty high, exposure middling, contrast middle-high, and white balance varies but usually pretty high). I'd suggest maybe some pink bulbs though or yellow ones, they'll likely come off looking better on cam than bright white/florescent.

When you have the lighting in the second picture try upping your gain and exposure and see if you can get a nice look with that. The second picture usually is about what I look like before I mess with my settings.
Here's an example, I have all my lights off, just diffused natural light in this photo and you can see how much it changes with exposure and gain. I'm guessing you've already tried this but hopefully it can help others who have this problem.

View attachment 78453

This is really helpful, thank you!

 

[SaffronBurke]

I also amp up my blush in a color that I would never wear in person. Off cam, it looks like clown makeup to me, but on cam it looks like a healthy natural glow when I have the pink "filters" on.

I apply my blush with my cam on, and keep piling it on until it's visibly there on cam. It looks so over the top in person, but that's stage makeup for you.

 

[JoleneBrody]

If you don’t have space for a light behind the camera, you may want to try a little clip on ring light. They work great.