:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/paramount-plus-eaf802cdbbe44654b47d5f3b7aba54e7.jpg)
"2024 Approved Cutting-Edge Techniques for Powerful YouTube Thumbnail Designs"
Cutting-Edge Techniques for Powerful YouTube Thumbnail Designs
The Ultimate Guide to YouTube Thumbnails that Get Views
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
Search for any topic on YouTube and you’ll find thousands of videos. How do you decide which of them to watch? Thumbnails play a major role in what viewers decide to click on. They’re often more important than video titles.
Viewers click on thumbnails that both standout and feel relevant to their search. Your task when it comes to creating YouTube thumbnails is to make something that does both of those things while also maintaining your personal style.
- How to Make a YouTube Thumbnail
- How to Upload a YouTube Thumbnail
- YouTube Thumbnail Makers
- How to Make Thumbnails that Get Clicks (Without Clickbait!)
- Animated YouTube Thumbnails
Part 1: How to Make a YouTube Thumbnail
In order to create a custom video thumbnail, you’ll need a program to put it together in. You can use an image editing program like Photoshop if you have one, but if you don’t you can check out these free thumbnail makers.
Here are some examples of popular thumbnail styles.
1. The Classic Thumbnail (Photo or Screenshot)
A photo that shows what happens in your video – whether that means the finished ‘look’ from your makeup tutorial or you posing in front of the landmark you shot your travel vlog in front of – is a great way to let viewers know what to expect. While curiosity can be a big motive behind clicking on a video thumbnail (or anything online), when people have searched for a specific topic they want to be convinced that your video has what they’re looking for.
#1. Choose Your Photo
To start off, either choose a still frame from your video or take a photograph while you’re still set up from your video. A separate photograph is usually a better idea because your video editor might not be able to export a high-quality snapshot, and also because you’re able to choose your facial expression.
Aim to make this shot a close-up or medium close-up and make sure you’re either in the center of the screen or off to one side, as per the ‘rule of thirds’. Many cameras allow you to bring an optional grid up onto your viewfinder. This will divide your screen into three equal segments both vertically and horizontally. Try to make sure your eyes line up with the top line, and if you’re going to be off to one side then make sure you’re on one of the vertical lines. This will ensure your image is visually appealing.
If you want to add text later, it’s a good idea to be off to one side.
Including your face is important for most types of YouTube videos. People are attracted to eye contact and are more likely to click on thumbnails that feature a face. Gamers might choose to use a picture of a video game character instead and it will have the same effect.
Some situations where it isn’t essential to include your face include tech reviews, where viewers will be more interested in seeing the product, and cooking videos where people are looking to be tempted by a yummy food pic.
#2. Add Text and/or Images
This part isn’t essential – in some cases, a photo is enough – but a lot of the thumbnails for the videos ranked highest in YouTube’s search results include either a couple of words of text, a simple graphic (i.e. an emoji), or both.
In some cases you might use text to make it clear what type of video you’ve made, i.e. ‘review’ or ‘tutorial’. It’s best to keep any text you use brief, but you could get a bit more descriptive and write something like ‘fall makeup tutorial’. Three words is probably the most you can get away with. Remember that your text will be shrunk down with the rest of your image; you need to make it big enough to read easily once it’s shrunk, and that means you don’t have a ton of room for text.
You should also avoid fonts that are harder to read. Fonts with a lot of curves can be harder to read, and you want to make sure you choose a color that stands out from your background. Yellow might work against black, but it probably won’t work against the beige wall of your sunny bedroom. Sans serif fonts tend to be best.
Another tactic used in successful thumbnails is to add small graphics, like emojis or small images (i.e. pumpkins for a Halloween video), which are related to your video’s content. As with text, you don’t want to overload your thumbnail with images, but they’re a great way to add something eye-catching that’s a bit different from competing thumbnails.
2. The Emotional Laser (Background + Face Reacting)
One increasingly popular style of YouTube thumbnail is what we’re going to call the ‘Emotional Laser’. It’s bright (like, blindingly bright), it communicates a clear feeling, and it creates high expectations for how exciting the video’s content is going to be.
The three main elements of the Emotional Laser thumbnail are a background (usually bright), your face on the right wearing an over-pronounced expression, and either the thing your expression is in reaction to (i.e. food, a product, the topic of your video in text) or reinforcement of your emotion (i.e an emoji or question marks) on the left.
#1. Ham It Up (Take Your Reaction Photo)
Take a high-quality photograph of yourself conveying strong emotion. Generally, you want to look extremely excited, disgusted, angry, or shocked depending on the theme of the video.
If there’s an object you want to include in your thumbnail, like a product you’ll be talking about, then it’s a good idea to hold it for this photo. Hold it to one side of your head, turn towards it slightly (but not so much that the camera can only see the side of your face) and put on the expression that’s supposed to be a reaction to the object.
It can be a good idea to take this photo in front of a solid color so you can remove the background easily with chroma key.
#2. Choose Your Background
Your background might be scenery, a solid color, or even the room you filmed the video in. Light or bright colors are popular. Make sure there’s nothing that will distract from your expression. If your background is a room, or anything else where there could be things like pictures hanging, you may want to add a blur effect in the next step.
#3. Put It Together
In your thumbnail maker or a program like Photoshop, you’ll need to put your photo and your background together. This will work differently depending on what program you use. If your program has a chroma key tool and your reaction photo was taken against a solid color then you can make that solid color transparent.
What if I don’t have a separate background? If you don’t have a background you want to use, but you still want your reaction to stand out the same way it would if you did, then you can use your photo editor’s blur tool to turn the normal background of your photo into something you can pop-out from.
#4. Add Extras (Text, Emojis, etc.)
If instead of an object you plan to fill the other side of your thumbnail with text, question marks, emojis, or some other graphic element then now is the time to add it.
Part 2: How to Upload a YouTube Thumbnail
When you upload a new video to YouTube, you will see a Custom thumbnail option under Video thumbnails after your upload is complete.
If you want to add a custom thumbnail to a video that’s already up, that’s easy too.
- Go to your Video Manager in the Creator Studio.
- Find the video you want to change the thumbnail for and click Edit next to it.
- Click Custom thumbnail on the right of the preview screen.
- Upload your thumbnail and click Save changes.
Remember when you’re uploading custom thumbnails that you need to use a .JPG, .GIF, .BMP, or .PNG image with an aspect ratio of 16:9 and that your file size has to be under 2MB.
YouTube recommends that thumbnail images have a resolution of 1280x720px, and you cannot upload an image with a width of less than 640 pixels.
Make sure that all of your thumbnails adhere to YouTube’s Community guidelines. Anything sexually suggestive, violent, or otherwise graphic could result in your video being age-restricted.
Part 3: YouTube Thumbnail Makers
You don’t have to go out and buy a photo editor like Photoshop to make custom video thumbnails (although it’s a good thing to use if you already have it). Here are two free online programs you can use instead:
Canva is an intuitive option with templates for Thumbnails, Channel Art, and other social media graphics. There are stock photos and graphics provided, but not all of them are free (paid options cost $1 each). Canva’s templates do tend to include paid resources, so you may want to use them mostly for their layouts or as inspiration and replace everything they provide with your own images.
Generally, using Canva is as easy as dragging and dropping things where you want them. You’ll be able to set the dimensions for your project so the image you export is a perfect size. Adding text and changing the size, font, or color is easy too.
Adobe Spark also has templates for channel art, and it’s also very easy to use. The first time you use it helpful notes will pop up to guide you through the process. Using templates is especially simple because you just click on the elements in the pre-made thumbnail and replace them with your own photos/text.
You can make changes to the colors in your Spark thumbnail easily by selecting a new color scheme or filter. You can even toggle through layouts easily. When you choose a new layout, Spark will rearrange all the pieces of your current thumbnail to align with the new layout so you can quickly see what it looks like instead of having to rebuild.
Click to check more YouTube thumbnail makers
Part 4: How to Make Thumbnails That Get Clicks (Without Clickbait!)
Here are the top 10 best practices for creating effective YouTube thumbnails:
#1. Show What Your Video Is About
Being mysterious and clickbaity can get you views, if you’re already big. For small YouTubers, it pays off to be clear about your video’s topic. You want people to click who want to watch the actual content of your video. Even if you manage to get some clicks by being mysterious, you’ll probably end up with low viewer retention because people are clicking away when they realize your video isn’t what they were looking for. That will make YouTube’s algorithm rank your video lower, and then even fewer people will find it.
If your video is a product review, show the product in the thumbnail and maybe even write ‘review’ on it. If your video is a makeup tutorial, show your face with the finished makeup and maybe even include pictures of the products you used. People want to know what they’re clicking on before they click.
#2. Use a Consistent Layout
As you grow, you’ll want people to be able to see one of your thumbnails and instantly know it’s yours. Building a recognizable brand is about consistency. Try to stick with one basic layout for all of your videos. You can still customize every individual thumbnail by using different facial expressions and different graphics, but try to use similar backgrounds, fonts, and general layouts (i.e. you to the right of the thumbnails, text to the left) over and over.
#3. Use Your Face
Why should people want to watch your videos? If the answer is ‘because I can teach them to create delicious food’ or ‘because they want to learn about the latest iPhone’ then your thumbnail should include that food or that iPhone.
If part of the reason people want to watch your videos is you – your personality and your sense of humor – then you should be in your thumbnail.
Viewers who are on YouTube because they like seeing a creator’s personality like to feel the presence of that personality in the video thumbnail, and eye contact naturally draws attention and clicks.
#4. Add Small Graphics
Adding small graphics, like emojis or hearts, to your thumbnail can help you stand out in a couple different ways. First, if they’re being compared to thumbnails that are just screenshots from the video, your thumbnails will look a lot more polished. Second, they’ll add a splash of color which can draw eyes to your video in a search where other thumbnails are not using those same colors.
#5. Your Text Should Be Huge
Your thumbnail will end up being a fraction of the size it is while you’re creating it in your thumbnail maker, and that means that any text you use will end up being shrunk down. You could probably type a six-word sentence in a size 18 font and have it look fine while you’re making your thumbnail, but after you upload it there’s no way people will be able to read it at a glance.
Aim for a huge font size, and 3 words or less (so your thumbnail doesn’t end up looking crowded).
#6. Check Out The Competition
Type your video’s title or topic into the search engine on YouTube and look at the thumbnails for the videos that come up. These are your competition. You want to make a thumbnail that is similar enough to what comes up that viewers know it’s on the same topic, but different enough that it stands out.
Generally, if most of the thumbnails have the same layout, you’ll want to mimic that layout. Where you can break from the crowd is in the colors, fonts, and graphics you use.
Part 5: Animated YouTube Thumbnails
Whether or not you upload a custom thumbnail to YouTube, YouTube’s A.I will choose what it thinks are the 3 juiciest seconds of your video (you cannot choose for yourself) and play them as a GIF-like animation when people mouseover your video thumbnails.
As of now, this only works in the Google Chrome desktop browser. Videos have to be at least 30 seconds long to get moving thumbnails.
Alright, now that you know everything about YouTube thumbnails, go make one! Tell us in the comments what you’re going to do to make your video thumbnails stand out.
Touch Up YouTube Videos with Effects & Elements in Filmora
As one of the most widely used video editing software in YouTube video editing, Filmora provides lots of templates and effects with an intuitive interface. Download the free trial version and get started now.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
Search for any topic on YouTube and you’ll find thousands of videos. How do you decide which of them to watch? Thumbnails play a major role in what viewers decide to click on. They’re often more important than video titles.
Viewers click on thumbnails that both standout and feel relevant to their search. Your task when it comes to creating YouTube thumbnails is to make something that does both of those things while also maintaining your personal style.
- How to Make a YouTube Thumbnail
- How to Upload a YouTube Thumbnail
- YouTube Thumbnail Makers
- How to Make Thumbnails that Get Clicks (Without Clickbait!)
- Animated YouTube Thumbnails
Part 1: How to Make a YouTube Thumbnail
In order to create a custom video thumbnail, you’ll need a program to put it together in. You can use an image editing program like Photoshop if you have one, but if you don’t you can check out these free thumbnail makers.
Here are some examples of popular thumbnail styles.
1. The Classic Thumbnail (Photo or Screenshot)
A photo that shows what happens in your video – whether that means the finished ‘look’ from your makeup tutorial or you posing in front of the landmark you shot your travel vlog in front of – is a great way to let viewers know what to expect. While curiosity can be a big motive behind clicking on a video thumbnail (or anything online), when people have searched for a specific topic they want to be convinced that your video has what they’re looking for.
#1. Choose Your Photo
To start off, either choose a still frame from your video or take a photograph while you’re still set up from your video. A separate photograph is usually a better idea because your video editor might not be able to export a high-quality snapshot, and also because you’re able to choose your facial expression.
Aim to make this shot a close-up or medium close-up and make sure you’re either in the center of the screen or off to one side, as per the ‘rule of thirds’. Many cameras allow you to bring an optional grid up onto your viewfinder. This will divide your screen into three equal segments both vertically and horizontally. Try to make sure your eyes line up with the top line, and if you’re going to be off to one side then make sure you’re on one of the vertical lines. This will ensure your image is visually appealing.
If you want to add text later, it’s a good idea to be off to one side.
Including your face is important for most types of YouTube videos. People are attracted to eye contact and are more likely to click on thumbnails that feature a face. Gamers might choose to use a picture of a video game character instead and it will have the same effect.
Some situations where it isn’t essential to include your face include tech reviews, where viewers will be more interested in seeing the product, and cooking videos where people are looking to be tempted by a yummy food pic.
#2. Add Text and/or Images
This part isn’t essential – in some cases, a photo is enough – but a lot of the thumbnails for the videos ranked highest in YouTube’s search results include either a couple of words of text, a simple graphic (i.e. an emoji), or both.
In some cases you might use text to make it clear what type of video you’ve made, i.e. ‘review’ or ‘tutorial’. It’s best to keep any text you use brief, but you could get a bit more descriptive and write something like ‘fall makeup tutorial’. Three words is probably the most you can get away with. Remember that your text will be shrunk down with the rest of your image; you need to make it big enough to read easily once it’s shrunk, and that means you don’t have a ton of room for text.
You should also avoid fonts that are harder to read. Fonts with a lot of curves can be harder to read, and you want to make sure you choose a color that stands out from your background. Yellow might work against black, but it probably won’t work against the beige wall of your sunny bedroom. Sans serif fonts tend to be best.
Another tactic used in successful thumbnails is to add small graphics, like emojis or small images (i.e. pumpkins for a Halloween video), which are related to your video’s content. As with text, you don’t want to overload your thumbnail with images, but they’re a great way to add something eye-catching that’s a bit different from competing thumbnails.
2. The Emotional Laser (Background + Face Reacting)
One increasingly popular style of YouTube thumbnail is what we’re going to call the ‘Emotional Laser’. It’s bright (like, blindingly bright), it communicates a clear feeling, and it creates high expectations for how exciting the video’s content is going to be.
The three main elements of the Emotional Laser thumbnail are a background (usually bright), your face on the right wearing an over-pronounced expression, and either the thing your expression is in reaction to (i.e. food, a product, the topic of your video in text) or reinforcement of your emotion (i.e an emoji or question marks) on the left.
#1. Ham It Up (Take Your Reaction Photo)
Take a high-quality photograph of yourself conveying strong emotion. Generally, you want to look extremely excited, disgusted, angry, or shocked depending on the theme of the video.
If there’s an object you want to include in your thumbnail, like a product you’ll be talking about, then it’s a good idea to hold it for this photo. Hold it to one side of your head, turn towards it slightly (but not so much that the camera can only see the side of your face) and put on the expression that’s supposed to be a reaction to the object.
It can be a good idea to take this photo in front of a solid color so you can remove the background easily with chroma key.
#2. Choose Your Background
Your background might be scenery, a solid color, or even the room you filmed the video in. Light or bright colors are popular. Make sure there’s nothing that will distract from your expression. If your background is a room, or anything else where there could be things like pictures hanging, you may want to add a blur effect in the next step.
#3. Put It Together
In your thumbnail maker or a program like Photoshop, you’ll need to put your photo and your background together. This will work differently depending on what program you use. If your program has a chroma key tool and your reaction photo was taken against a solid color then you can make that solid color transparent.
What if I don’t have a separate background? If you don’t have a background you want to use, but you still want your reaction to stand out the same way it would if you did, then you can use your photo editor’s blur tool to turn the normal background of your photo into something you can pop-out from.
#4. Add Extras (Text, Emojis, etc.)
If instead of an object you plan to fill the other side of your thumbnail with text, question marks, emojis, or some other graphic element then now is the time to add it.
Part 2: How to Upload a YouTube Thumbnail
When you upload a new video to YouTube, you will see a Custom thumbnail option under Video thumbnails after your upload is complete.
If you want to add a custom thumbnail to a video that’s already up, that’s easy too.
- Go to your Video Manager in the Creator Studio.
- Find the video you want to change the thumbnail for and click Edit next to it.
- Click Custom thumbnail on the right of the preview screen.
- Upload your thumbnail and click Save changes.
Remember when you’re uploading custom thumbnails that you need to use a .JPG, .GIF, .BMP, or .PNG image with an aspect ratio of 16:9 and that your file size has to be under 2MB.
YouTube recommends that thumbnail images have a resolution of 1280x720px, and you cannot upload an image with a width of less than 640 pixels.
Make sure that all of your thumbnails adhere to YouTube’s Community guidelines. Anything sexually suggestive, violent, or otherwise graphic could result in your video being age-restricted.
Part 3: YouTube Thumbnail Makers
You don’t have to go out and buy a photo editor like Photoshop to make custom video thumbnails (although it’s a good thing to use if you already have it). Here are two free online programs you can use instead:
Canva is an intuitive option with templates for Thumbnails, Channel Art, and other social media graphics. There are stock photos and graphics provided, but not all of them are free (paid options cost $1 each). Canva’s templates do tend to include paid resources, so you may want to use them mostly for their layouts or as inspiration and replace everything they provide with your own images.
Generally, using Canva is as easy as dragging and dropping things where you want them. You’ll be able to set the dimensions for your project so the image you export is a perfect size. Adding text and changing the size, font, or color is easy too.
Adobe Spark also has templates for channel art, and it’s also very easy to use. The first time you use it helpful notes will pop up to guide you through the process. Using templates is especially simple because you just click on the elements in the pre-made thumbnail and replace them with your own photos/text.
You can make changes to the colors in your Spark thumbnail easily by selecting a new color scheme or filter. You can even toggle through layouts easily. When you choose a new layout, Spark will rearrange all the pieces of your current thumbnail to align with the new layout so you can quickly see what it looks like instead of having to rebuild.
Click to check more YouTube thumbnail makers
Part 4: How to Make Thumbnails That Get Clicks (Without Clickbait!)
Here are the top 10 best practices for creating effective YouTube thumbnails:
#1. Show What Your Video Is About
Being mysterious and clickbaity can get you views, if you’re already big. For small YouTubers, it pays off to be clear about your video’s topic. You want people to click who want to watch the actual content of your video. Even if you manage to get some clicks by being mysterious, you’ll probably end up with low viewer retention because people are clicking away when they realize your video isn’t what they were looking for. That will make YouTube’s algorithm rank your video lower, and then even fewer people will find it.
If your video is a product review, show the product in the thumbnail and maybe even write ‘review’ on it. If your video is a makeup tutorial, show your face with the finished makeup and maybe even include pictures of the products you used. People want to know what they’re clicking on before they click.
#2. Use a Consistent Layout
As you grow, you’ll want people to be able to see one of your thumbnails and instantly know it’s yours. Building a recognizable brand is about consistency. Try to stick with one basic layout for all of your videos. You can still customize every individual thumbnail by using different facial expressions and different graphics, but try to use similar backgrounds, fonts, and general layouts (i.e. you to the right of the thumbnails, text to the left) over and over.
#3. Use Your Face
Why should people want to watch your videos? If the answer is ‘because I can teach them to create delicious food’ or ‘because they want to learn about the latest iPhone’ then your thumbnail should include that food or that iPhone.
If part of the reason people want to watch your videos is you – your personality and your sense of humor – then you should be in your thumbnail.
Viewers who are on YouTube because they like seeing a creator’s personality like to feel the presence of that personality in the video thumbnail, and eye contact naturally draws attention and clicks.
#4. Add Small Graphics
Adding small graphics, like emojis or hearts, to your thumbnail can help you stand out in a couple different ways. First, if they’re being compared to thumbnails that are just screenshots from the video, your thumbnails will look a lot more polished. Second, they’ll add a splash of color which can draw eyes to your video in a search where other thumbnails are not using those same colors.
#5. Your Text Should Be Huge
Your thumbnail will end up being a fraction of the size it is while you’re creating it in your thumbnail maker, and that means that any text you use will end up being shrunk down. You could probably type a six-word sentence in a size 18 font and have it look fine while you’re making your thumbnail, but after you upload it there’s no way people will be able to read it at a glance.
Aim for a huge font size, and 3 words or less (so your thumbnail doesn’t end up looking crowded).
#6. Check Out The Competition
Type your video’s title or topic into the search engine on YouTube and look at the thumbnails for the videos that come up. These are your competition. You want to make a thumbnail that is similar enough to what comes up that viewers know it’s on the same topic, but different enough that it stands out.
Generally, if most of the thumbnails have the same layout, you’ll want to mimic that layout. Where you can break from the crowd is in the colors, fonts, and graphics you use.
Part 5: Animated YouTube Thumbnails
Whether or not you upload a custom thumbnail to YouTube, YouTube’s A.I will choose what it thinks are the 3 juiciest seconds of your video (you cannot choose for yourself) and play them as a GIF-like animation when people mouseover your video thumbnails.
As of now, this only works in the Google Chrome desktop browser. Videos have to be at least 30 seconds long to get moving thumbnails.
Alright, now that you know everything about YouTube thumbnails, go make one! Tell us in the comments what you’re going to do to make your video thumbnails stand out.
Touch Up YouTube Videos with Effects & Elements in Filmora
As one of the most widely used video editing software in YouTube video editing, Filmora provides lots of templates and effects with an intuitive interface. Download the free trial version and get started now.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
Search for any topic on YouTube and you’ll find thousands of videos. How do you decide which of them to watch? Thumbnails play a major role in what viewers decide to click on. They’re often more important than video titles.
Viewers click on thumbnails that both standout and feel relevant to their search. Your task when it comes to creating YouTube thumbnails is to make something that does both of those things while also maintaining your personal style.
- How to Make a YouTube Thumbnail
- How to Upload a YouTube Thumbnail
- YouTube Thumbnail Makers
- How to Make Thumbnails that Get Clicks (Without Clickbait!)
- Animated YouTube Thumbnails
Part 1: How to Make a YouTube Thumbnail
In order to create a custom video thumbnail, you’ll need a program to put it together in. You can use an image editing program like Photoshop if you have one, but if you don’t you can check out these free thumbnail makers.
Here are some examples of popular thumbnail styles.
1. The Classic Thumbnail (Photo or Screenshot)
A photo that shows what happens in your video – whether that means the finished ‘look’ from your makeup tutorial or you posing in front of the landmark you shot your travel vlog in front of – is a great way to let viewers know what to expect. While curiosity can be a big motive behind clicking on a video thumbnail (or anything online), when people have searched for a specific topic they want to be convinced that your video has what they’re looking for.
#1. Choose Your Photo
To start off, either choose a still frame from your video or take a photograph while you’re still set up from your video. A separate photograph is usually a better idea because your video editor might not be able to export a high-quality snapshot, and also because you’re able to choose your facial expression.
Aim to make this shot a close-up or medium close-up and make sure you’re either in the center of the screen or off to one side, as per the ‘rule of thirds’. Many cameras allow you to bring an optional grid up onto your viewfinder. This will divide your screen into three equal segments both vertically and horizontally. Try to make sure your eyes line up with the top line, and if you’re going to be off to one side then make sure you’re on one of the vertical lines. This will ensure your image is visually appealing.
If you want to add text later, it’s a good idea to be off to one side.
Including your face is important for most types of YouTube videos. People are attracted to eye contact and are more likely to click on thumbnails that feature a face. Gamers might choose to use a picture of a video game character instead and it will have the same effect.
Some situations where it isn’t essential to include your face include tech reviews, where viewers will be more interested in seeing the product, and cooking videos where people are looking to be tempted by a yummy food pic.
#2. Add Text and/or Images
This part isn’t essential – in some cases, a photo is enough – but a lot of the thumbnails for the videos ranked highest in YouTube’s search results include either a couple of words of text, a simple graphic (i.e. an emoji), or both.
In some cases you might use text to make it clear what type of video you’ve made, i.e. ‘review’ or ‘tutorial’. It’s best to keep any text you use brief, but you could get a bit more descriptive and write something like ‘fall makeup tutorial’. Three words is probably the most you can get away with. Remember that your text will be shrunk down with the rest of your image; you need to make it big enough to read easily once it’s shrunk, and that means you don’t have a ton of room for text.
You should also avoid fonts that are harder to read. Fonts with a lot of curves can be harder to read, and you want to make sure you choose a color that stands out from your background. Yellow might work against black, but it probably won’t work against the beige wall of your sunny bedroom. Sans serif fonts tend to be best.
Another tactic used in successful thumbnails is to add small graphics, like emojis or small images (i.e. pumpkins for a Halloween video), which are related to your video’s content. As with text, you don’t want to overload your thumbnail with images, but they’re a great way to add something eye-catching that’s a bit different from competing thumbnails.
2. The Emotional Laser (Background + Face Reacting)
One increasingly popular style of YouTube thumbnail is what we’re going to call the ‘Emotional Laser’. It’s bright (like, blindingly bright), it communicates a clear feeling, and it creates high expectations for how exciting the video’s content is going to be.
The three main elements of the Emotional Laser thumbnail are a background (usually bright), your face on the right wearing an over-pronounced expression, and either the thing your expression is in reaction to (i.e. food, a product, the topic of your video in text) or reinforcement of your emotion (i.e an emoji or question marks) on the left.
#1. Ham It Up (Take Your Reaction Photo)
Take a high-quality photograph of yourself conveying strong emotion. Generally, you want to look extremely excited, disgusted, angry, or shocked depending on the theme of the video.
If there’s an object you want to include in your thumbnail, like a product you’ll be talking about, then it’s a good idea to hold it for this photo. Hold it to one side of your head, turn towards it slightly (but not so much that the camera can only see the side of your face) and put on the expression that’s supposed to be a reaction to the object.
It can be a good idea to take this photo in front of a solid color so you can remove the background easily with chroma key.
#2. Choose Your Background
Your background might be scenery, a solid color, or even the room you filmed the video in. Light or bright colors are popular. Make sure there’s nothing that will distract from your expression. If your background is a room, or anything else where there could be things like pictures hanging, you may want to add a blur effect in the next step.
#3. Put It Together
In your thumbnail maker or a program like Photoshop, you’ll need to put your photo and your background together. This will work differently depending on what program you use. If your program has a chroma key tool and your reaction photo was taken against a solid color then you can make that solid color transparent.
What if I don’t have a separate background? If you don’t have a background you want to use, but you still want your reaction to stand out the same way it would if you did, then you can use your photo editor’s blur tool to turn the normal background of your photo into something you can pop-out from.
#4. Add Extras (Text, Emojis, etc.)
If instead of an object you plan to fill the other side of your thumbnail with text, question marks, emojis, or some other graphic element then now is the time to add it.
Part 2: How to Upload a YouTube Thumbnail
When you upload a new video to YouTube, you will see a Custom thumbnail option under Video thumbnails after your upload is complete.
If you want to add a custom thumbnail to a video that’s already up, that’s easy too.
- Go to your Video Manager in the Creator Studio.
- Find the video you want to change the thumbnail for and click Edit next to it.
- Click Custom thumbnail on the right of the preview screen.
- Upload your thumbnail and click Save changes.
Remember when you’re uploading custom thumbnails that you need to use a .JPG, .GIF, .BMP, or .PNG image with an aspect ratio of 16:9 and that your file size has to be under 2MB.
YouTube recommends that thumbnail images have a resolution of 1280x720px, and you cannot upload an image with a width of less than 640 pixels.
Make sure that all of your thumbnails adhere to YouTube’s Community guidelines. Anything sexually suggestive, violent, or otherwise graphic could result in your video being age-restricted.
Part 3: YouTube Thumbnail Makers
You don’t have to go out and buy a photo editor like Photoshop to make custom video thumbnails (although it’s a good thing to use if you already have it). Here are two free online programs you can use instead:
Canva is an intuitive option with templates for Thumbnails, Channel Art, and other social media graphics. There are stock photos and graphics provided, but not all of them are free (paid options cost $1 each). Canva’s templates do tend to include paid resources, so you may want to use them mostly for their layouts or as inspiration and replace everything they provide with your own images.
Generally, using Canva is as easy as dragging and dropping things where you want them. You’ll be able to set the dimensions for your project so the image you export is a perfect size. Adding text and changing the size, font, or color is easy too.
Adobe Spark also has templates for channel art, and it’s also very easy to use. The first time you use it helpful notes will pop up to guide you through the process. Using templates is especially simple because you just click on the elements in the pre-made thumbnail and replace them with your own photos/text.
You can make changes to the colors in your Spark thumbnail easily by selecting a new color scheme or filter. You can even toggle through layouts easily. When you choose a new layout, Spark will rearrange all the pieces of your current thumbnail to align with the new layout so you can quickly see what it looks like instead of having to rebuild.
Click to check more YouTube thumbnail makers
Part 4: How to Make Thumbnails That Get Clicks (Without Clickbait!)
Here are the top 10 best practices for creating effective YouTube thumbnails:
#1. Show What Your Video Is About
Being mysterious and clickbaity can get you views, if you’re already big. For small YouTubers, it pays off to be clear about your video’s topic. You want people to click who want to watch the actual content of your video. Even if you manage to get some clicks by being mysterious, you’ll probably end up with low viewer retention because people are clicking away when they realize your video isn’t what they were looking for. That will make YouTube’s algorithm rank your video lower, and then even fewer people will find it.
If your video is a product review, show the product in the thumbnail and maybe even write ‘review’ on it. If your video is a makeup tutorial, show your face with the finished makeup and maybe even include pictures of the products you used. People want to know what they’re clicking on before they click.
#2. Use a Consistent Layout
As you grow, you’ll want people to be able to see one of your thumbnails and instantly know it’s yours. Building a recognizable brand is about consistency. Try to stick with one basic layout for all of your videos. You can still customize every individual thumbnail by using different facial expressions and different graphics, but try to use similar backgrounds, fonts, and general layouts (i.e. you to the right of the thumbnails, text to the left) over and over.
#3. Use Your Face
Why should people want to watch your videos? If the answer is ‘because I can teach them to create delicious food’ or ‘because they want to learn about the latest iPhone’ then your thumbnail should include that food or that iPhone.
If part of the reason people want to watch your videos is you – your personality and your sense of humor – then you should be in your thumbnail.
Viewers who are on YouTube because they like seeing a creator’s personality like to feel the presence of that personality in the video thumbnail, and eye contact naturally draws attention and clicks.
#4. Add Small Graphics
Adding small graphics, like emojis or hearts, to your thumbnail can help you stand out in a couple different ways. First, if they’re being compared to thumbnails that are just screenshots from the video, your thumbnails will look a lot more polished. Second, they’ll add a splash of color which can draw eyes to your video in a search where other thumbnails are not using those same colors.
#5. Your Text Should Be Huge
Your thumbnail will end up being a fraction of the size it is while you’re creating it in your thumbnail maker, and that means that any text you use will end up being shrunk down. You could probably type a six-word sentence in a size 18 font and have it look fine while you’re making your thumbnail, but after you upload it there’s no way people will be able to read it at a glance.
Aim for a huge font size, and 3 words or less (so your thumbnail doesn’t end up looking crowded).
#6. Check Out The Competition
Type your video’s title or topic into the search engine on YouTube and look at the thumbnails for the videos that come up. These are your competition. You want to make a thumbnail that is similar enough to what comes up that viewers know it’s on the same topic, but different enough that it stands out.
Generally, if most of the thumbnails have the same layout, you’ll want to mimic that layout. Where you can break from the crowd is in the colors, fonts, and graphics you use.
Part 5: Animated YouTube Thumbnails
Whether or not you upload a custom thumbnail to YouTube, YouTube’s A.I will choose what it thinks are the 3 juiciest seconds of your video (you cannot choose for yourself) and play them as a GIF-like animation when people mouseover your video thumbnails.
As of now, this only works in the Google Chrome desktop browser. Videos have to be at least 30 seconds long to get moving thumbnails.
Alright, now that you know everything about YouTube thumbnails, go make one! Tell us in the comments what you’re going to do to make your video thumbnails stand out.
Touch Up YouTube Videos with Effects & Elements in Filmora
As one of the most widely used video editing software in YouTube video editing, Filmora provides lots of templates and effects with an intuitive interface. Download the free trial version and get started now.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
Search for any topic on YouTube and you’ll find thousands of videos. How do you decide which of them to watch? Thumbnails play a major role in what viewers decide to click on. They’re often more important than video titles.
Viewers click on thumbnails that both standout and feel relevant to their search. Your task when it comes to creating YouTube thumbnails is to make something that does both of those things while also maintaining your personal style.
- How to Make a YouTube Thumbnail
- How to Upload a YouTube Thumbnail
- YouTube Thumbnail Makers
- How to Make Thumbnails that Get Clicks (Without Clickbait!)
- Animated YouTube Thumbnails
Part 1: How to Make a YouTube Thumbnail
In order to create a custom video thumbnail, you’ll need a program to put it together in. You can use an image editing program like Photoshop if you have one, but if you don’t you can check out these free thumbnail makers.
Here are some examples of popular thumbnail styles.
1. The Classic Thumbnail (Photo or Screenshot)
A photo that shows what happens in your video – whether that means the finished ‘look’ from your makeup tutorial or you posing in front of the landmark you shot your travel vlog in front of – is a great way to let viewers know what to expect. While curiosity can be a big motive behind clicking on a video thumbnail (or anything online), when people have searched for a specific topic they want to be convinced that your video has what they’re looking for.
#1. Choose Your Photo
To start off, either choose a still frame from your video or take a photograph while you’re still set up from your video. A separate photograph is usually a better idea because your video editor might not be able to export a high-quality snapshot, and also because you’re able to choose your facial expression.
Aim to make this shot a close-up or medium close-up and make sure you’re either in the center of the screen or off to one side, as per the ‘rule of thirds’. Many cameras allow you to bring an optional grid up onto your viewfinder. This will divide your screen into three equal segments both vertically and horizontally. Try to make sure your eyes line up with the top line, and if you’re going to be off to one side then make sure you’re on one of the vertical lines. This will ensure your image is visually appealing.
If you want to add text later, it’s a good idea to be off to one side.
Including your face is important for most types of YouTube videos. People are attracted to eye contact and are more likely to click on thumbnails that feature a face. Gamers might choose to use a picture of a video game character instead and it will have the same effect.
Some situations where it isn’t essential to include your face include tech reviews, where viewers will be more interested in seeing the product, and cooking videos where people are looking to be tempted by a yummy food pic.
#2. Add Text and/or Images
This part isn’t essential – in some cases, a photo is enough – but a lot of the thumbnails for the videos ranked highest in YouTube’s search results include either a couple of words of text, a simple graphic (i.e. an emoji), or both.
In some cases you might use text to make it clear what type of video you’ve made, i.e. ‘review’ or ‘tutorial’. It’s best to keep any text you use brief, but you could get a bit more descriptive and write something like ‘fall makeup tutorial’. Three words is probably the most you can get away with. Remember that your text will be shrunk down with the rest of your image; you need to make it big enough to read easily once it’s shrunk, and that means you don’t have a ton of room for text.
You should also avoid fonts that are harder to read. Fonts with a lot of curves can be harder to read, and you want to make sure you choose a color that stands out from your background. Yellow might work against black, but it probably won’t work against the beige wall of your sunny bedroom. Sans serif fonts tend to be best.
Another tactic used in successful thumbnails is to add small graphics, like emojis or small images (i.e. pumpkins for a Halloween video), which are related to your video’s content. As with text, you don’t want to overload your thumbnail with images, but they’re a great way to add something eye-catching that’s a bit different from competing thumbnails.
2. The Emotional Laser (Background + Face Reacting)
One increasingly popular style of YouTube thumbnail is what we’re going to call the ‘Emotional Laser’. It’s bright (like, blindingly bright), it communicates a clear feeling, and it creates high expectations for how exciting the video’s content is going to be.
The three main elements of the Emotional Laser thumbnail are a background (usually bright), your face on the right wearing an over-pronounced expression, and either the thing your expression is in reaction to (i.e. food, a product, the topic of your video in text) or reinforcement of your emotion (i.e an emoji or question marks) on the left.
#1. Ham It Up (Take Your Reaction Photo)
Take a high-quality photograph of yourself conveying strong emotion. Generally, you want to look extremely excited, disgusted, angry, or shocked depending on the theme of the video.
If there’s an object you want to include in your thumbnail, like a product you’ll be talking about, then it’s a good idea to hold it for this photo. Hold it to one side of your head, turn towards it slightly (but not so much that the camera can only see the side of your face) and put on the expression that’s supposed to be a reaction to the object.
It can be a good idea to take this photo in front of a solid color so you can remove the background easily with chroma key.
#2. Choose Your Background
Your background might be scenery, a solid color, or even the room you filmed the video in. Light or bright colors are popular. Make sure there’s nothing that will distract from your expression. If your background is a room, or anything else where there could be things like pictures hanging, you may want to add a blur effect in the next step.
#3. Put It Together
In your thumbnail maker or a program like Photoshop, you’ll need to put your photo and your background together. This will work differently depending on what program you use. If your program has a chroma key tool and your reaction photo was taken against a solid color then you can make that solid color transparent.
What if I don’t have a separate background? If you don’t have a background you want to use, but you still want your reaction to stand out the same way it would if you did, then you can use your photo editor’s blur tool to turn the normal background of your photo into something you can pop-out from.
#4. Add Extras (Text, Emojis, etc.)
If instead of an object you plan to fill the other side of your thumbnail with text, question marks, emojis, or some other graphic element then now is the time to add it.
Part 2: How to Upload a YouTube Thumbnail
When you upload a new video to YouTube, you will see a Custom thumbnail option under Video thumbnails after your upload is complete.
If you want to add a custom thumbnail to a video that’s already up, that’s easy too.
- Go to your Video Manager in the Creator Studio.
- Find the video you want to change the thumbnail for and click Edit next to it.
- Click Custom thumbnail on the right of the preview screen.
- Upload your thumbnail and click Save changes.
Remember when you’re uploading custom thumbnails that you need to use a .JPG, .GIF, .BMP, or .PNG image with an aspect ratio of 16:9 and that your file size has to be under 2MB.
YouTube recommends that thumbnail images have a resolution of 1280x720px, and you cannot upload an image with a width of less than 640 pixels.
Make sure that all of your thumbnails adhere to YouTube’s Community guidelines. Anything sexually suggestive, violent, or otherwise graphic could result in your video being age-restricted.
Part 3: YouTube Thumbnail Makers
You don’t have to go out and buy a photo editor like Photoshop to make custom video thumbnails (although it’s a good thing to use if you already have it). Here are two free online programs you can use instead:
Canva is an intuitive option with templates for Thumbnails, Channel Art, and other social media graphics. There are stock photos and graphics provided, but not all of them are free (paid options cost $1 each). Canva’s templates do tend to include paid resources, so you may want to use them mostly for their layouts or as inspiration and replace everything they provide with your own images.
Generally, using Canva is as easy as dragging and dropping things where you want them. You’ll be able to set the dimensions for your project so the image you export is a perfect size. Adding text and changing the size, font, or color is easy too.
Adobe Spark also has templates for channel art, and it’s also very easy to use. The first time you use it helpful notes will pop up to guide you through the process. Using templates is especially simple because you just click on the elements in the pre-made thumbnail and replace them with your own photos/text.
You can make changes to the colors in your Spark thumbnail easily by selecting a new color scheme or filter. You can even toggle through layouts easily. When you choose a new layout, Spark will rearrange all the pieces of your current thumbnail to align with the new layout so you can quickly see what it looks like instead of having to rebuild.
Click to check more YouTube thumbnail makers
Part 4: How to Make Thumbnails That Get Clicks (Without Clickbait!)
Here are the top 10 best practices for creating effective YouTube thumbnails:
#1. Show What Your Video Is About
Being mysterious and clickbaity can get you views, if you’re already big. For small YouTubers, it pays off to be clear about your video’s topic. You want people to click who want to watch the actual content of your video. Even if you manage to get some clicks by being mysterious, you’ll probably end up with low viewer retention because people are clicking away when they realize your video isn’t what they were looking for. That will make YouTube’s algorithm rank your video lower, and then even fewer people will find it.
If your video is a product review, show the product in the thumbnail and maybe even write ‘review’ on it. If your video is a makeup tutorial, show your face with the finished makeup and maybe even include pictures of the products you used. People want to know what they’re clicking on before they click.
#2. Use a Consistent Layout
As you grow, you’ll want people to be able to see one of your thumbnails and instantly know it’s yours. Building a recognizable brand is about consistency. Try to stick with one basic layout for all of your videos. You can still customize every individual thumbnail by using different facial expressions and different graphics, but try to use similar backgrounds, fonts, and general layouts (i.e. you to the right of the thumbnails, text to the left) over and over.
#3. Use Your Face
Why should people want to watch your videos? If the answer is ‘because I can teach them to create delicious food’ or ‘because they want to learn about the latest iPhone’ then your thumbnail should include that food or that iPhone.
If part of the reason people want to watch your videos is you – your personality and your sense of humor – then you should be in your thumbnail.
Viewers who are on YouTube because they like seeing a creator’s personality like to feel the presence of that personality in the video thumbnail, and eye contact naturally draws attention and clicks.
#4. Add Small Graphics
Adding small graphics, like emojis or hearts, to your thumbnail can help you stand out in a couple different ways. First, if they’re being compared to thumbnails that are just screenshots from the video, your thumbnails will look a lot more polished. Second, they’ll add a splash of color which can draw eyes to your video in a search where other thumbnails are not using those same colors.
#5. Your Text Should Be Huge
Your thumbnail will end up being a fraction of the size it is while you’re creating it in your thumbnail maker, and that means that any text you use will end up being shrunk down. You could probably type a six-word sentence in a size 18 font and have it look fine while you’re making your thumbnail, but after you upload it there’s no way people will be able to read it at a glance.
Aim for a huge font size, and 3 words or less (so your thumbnail doesn’t end up looking crowded).
#6. Check Out The Competition
Type your video’s title or topic into the search engine on YouTube and look at the thumbnails for the videos that come up. These are your competition. You want to make a thumbnail that is similar enough to what comes up that viewers know it’s on the same topic, but different enough that it stands out.
Generally, if most of the thumbnails have the same layout, you’ll want to mimic that layout. Where you can break from the crowd is in the colors, fonts, and graphics you use.
Part 5: Animated YouTube Thumbnails
Whether or not you upload a custom thumbnail to YouTube, YouTube’s A.I will choose what it thinks are the 3 juiciest seconds of your video (you cannot choose for yourself) and play them as a GIF-like animation when people mouseover your video thumbnails.
As of now, this only works in the Google Chrome desktop browser. Videos have to be at least 30 seconds long to get moving thumbnails.
Alright, now that you know everything about YouTube thumbnails, go make one! Tell us in the comments what you’re going to do to make your video thumbnails stand out.
Touch Up YouTube Videos with Effects & Elements in Filmora
As one of the most widely used video editing software in YouTube video editing, Filmora provides lots of templates and effects with an intuitive interface. Download the free trial version and get started now.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Bright Ideas: Top 17 Lighting Setups for YouTubers
17 Best Lights and Lighting Equipment for YouTube Videos
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
Great lighting is important if you want people to watch your YouTube videos from start to finish. Viewers want to be able to see you clearly and will click away if they cannot. Natural light works great, and it’s cheap, so if it is possible you might want to consider vlogging outside. Of course, not every type of vlog is suited to the outdoors.
Unfortunately, it is unlikely you will be able to get good quality light from the lamps and ceiling lights in your home. Floor lamps can be useful for filling shadows or backlighting but are not usually powerful enough to use as your main light. Natural light is, so one way you can get around needing a lot of lighting equipment is to use a window as your main light. This is not always possible, though. If you are going to vlog from inside your house then there is a good chance you will need to invest in some lighting equipment.
- Part 1: Best Types of Lightning Equipment for YouTube Videos
- Part 2: What Should Good Lighting Equipment Feature?
- Part 3: Best Lights and Lighting Equipment for YouTube Video Shooting
Part 1: Best Types of Lightning Equipment for YouTube Videos
Every video no matter how long or short depends on light, more than anything else. The natural light sources are often not powerful enough to light a scene you’re trying to capture, so to avoid having to deal with underexposed footage, the best solution is to use artificial lighting. Even if you want the light in your video to be completely natural, you still have to figure out a way to get rid of shadows, which brings us back to different types of lighting equipment that can be used to increase the quality of the footage you’re producing.
1. Softbox Lights
Shooting videos with only natural light will put a lot of challenges in front of you, and the best way to overcome them is to use softbox lights. These natural light emulators mimic the natural light by using diffusion panels to make the light look softer and less artificial.
Softbox lights enable you to direct light to the exact spot in the shot, and they make lighting subjects and particular parts of a scene much easier. Softboxes are available in all shapes and sizes at very reasonable prices, and they are a standard part of the equipment used for the production of YouTube videos.
2. Umbrella Lights
The newcomers to the world of YouTube video production are going to love using these lights. The umbrella lights provide a much broader source of light than the softbox lights and they are frequently used to light the entire scene. You can also add extra light on the video’s subject if you’re looking to get a more balanced shot.
They are portable and quite handy if you often shoot in different locations since you can easily pack and carry them to wherever you plan on shooting your next YouTube video.
3. Ring Lights
Although they are most frequently used for fashion and beauty videos, ring lights are a great option whenever you need to make sure that the subjects of the video are perfectly lit. These circular lights have an amount in the center, so the camera’s point of view is identical to the direction from which the light is coming.
Ring lights are powerful enough to provide light for an entire scene, and they also work nicely as a catch or fill light. Some of the most popular YouTubers like Casy Neistat or PewDiePie use ring lights in their videos.
Part 2: What Should Good Lighting Equipment Feature?
Now that you know which types of lights are commonly used on YouTube video sets, you can start looking at models that best fit your demands. There are thousands of different studio lights on the market, but only the best offer features that make the light setup process easier and faster. So before buying your lighting equipment, you should make sure that it has the following features.
1. Adjustable Beam Spread
The equipment you use should allow you to control how wide the light is spreading. This is particularly useful when you want to light just one subject in the shot while keeping the rest in the dark. Lights with an adjustable beam spread to give you versatility and enable you to adapt to a wider range of scenes.
2. The Height of the Light Stand
Most lighting kits include stands, but not all stands allow you to change the height at which the light is positioned. This can largely limit your options on the set, which is why you need to check if the stand is adjustable. You’ll also want to do a background check on the stand’s durability, because low-quality stands may cause damage to the lights and other equipment.
3. Portability
How portable your lighting equipment should be is directly related to the genre of YouTube videos you want to produce. If you are planning on shooting in studio conditions, then portability is not such an important factor, but if you want to shoot at a different location every day then portability becomes something you simply must consider.
4. Accessories
Most lightning kits include a number of handy accessories that help you achieve better results. Reflectors, barn doors, diffusers, scrims, and mounting accessories are all commonly featured in high-quality lighting kits, and you shouldn’t buy a kit that doesn’t offer at least some of the accessories we mentioned here.
5. All About Reflectors/Diffusers
White reflectors are used to simply bounce light. Silver reflectors make light a bit colder-looking, and gold reflectors give things a slightly warmer, more glamourous, look. Black and translucent ‘reflectors’ are not really for bouncing light. The black reflector blocks light, which is useful if you are trying to focus your main light so it is only lighting you and not everything behind you. The translucent reflector is actually a diffuser. Diffusers are usually set up between you and your main light to soften it and make it easier on your eyes.
Reflectors are used to bounce light towards your subject. They are great for filling shadows created by your main light. This reflector is five reflectors in one: silver, gold, black, white, and translucent.
Part 3: Best Lights and Lighting Equipment for YouTube Videos
Consumer-level camera sensors are nowhere close to being as sensitive to light as our eyes. So a scene that may look sufficiently lit to our eyes may be too dark for the camera. When you’re shooting video indoors, you’ll need additional lighting equipment. Here are some of the top seventeen best lighting equipment for YouTubers.
List of the Top 5 Best On-Camera LED Lights
What is an On-Camera LED Light?
On-Camera LED lights are LED lights that can be mounted directly onto your camera’s hot/cold shoe (the little bracket on the top of a lot of DSLR cameras). On-camera LED lights are great for on-the-go YouTubers and YouTubers short on recording space because these lights are small and portable.
1. Julius Studio 160 LED Light with 4 Color Filters
The Julius Studio 160 LED light not only can be mounted on any digital camera that has a hot/cold shoe but it can also be mounted on light stands so you can keep the same light setting even if you are moving the camera around. This lighting equipment also comes with four color filters so that you can control the color temperature of your light.
2. Viltrox L116B highest RA CRI95 LED Light Panel
The VILTROX L116B LED light panel is a powerful piece of on-camera lighting equipment. As you can see from the back view of this light panel, you can see how much battery you have left as well as digitally set the color temperature of your light. It also features PWM light adjustment technology that reduces power consumption. As this equipment comes with an AC adapter, you can choose to use this outdoors or indoors.
3. Chromo Inc CI55000230 Macro Ring 48 LED Power Light
If you’re looking for an on-camera ring light, Chromo Inc’s macro ring light is a great option. This ring light mounts onto the lens of your SLR camera and its power source (two AA batteries) attaches to your camera’s hot/cold shoe. Get that nice-looking ring light reflection in your eyes as you film with this portable ring light!
4. Neewer CN-216 216PCS LED Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel
The Neewer 216 PCS LED dimmable light panel is powerful lighting equipment at a cheap price. You can adjust the color temperature of this light from 3200K up 5400K. This piece of equipment is only battery-powered, but you do have the option to either use six AA batteries or specific Sony NP series batteries, or Panasonic CGR-D16S rechargeable batteries.
5. Neewer 160 LED CN-160 Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel
This light is Neewer’s cheaper version of the CN-216. Instead of having 216 LED light bulbs, this light has 160 LED light bulbs. Other than the number of light bulbs, the two light panels are pretty much the same.
List of the Top 5 Best LED Ring Lights
LED ring lights are called ring lights because of their ring-like shape. The opening in the ring allows you to position your camera right in the center of this lighting equipment. These lights are great if you don’t have a lot of space.
1. Diva Ring Light Super Nova
The Diva ring light is a great ring light for divas, make-up artists, and anyone else wanting to look good right in front of the camera! This LED ring light has a dimming knob so that you can adjust the brightness of your light. It also comes with a cloth for you to diffuse your light (so that your light will be softer) and a gooseneck and z-bracket attachment if you want to use your camera and ring light with just one tripod.
2. Prismatic Halo Ring Light
The Prismatic Halo ring light is another great ring light option. It comes with a canvas travel bag, making it easier to store away or take around with you. The 110-120 VAC, 5400K light bulb produces light that can be dimmed as well. The Prismatic Halo Ring kit doesn’t include a light stand.
3. Neewer Dimmable 18” Ring Light
The 18-inch light ring uses fluorescent light. In addition, this kit includes a 59-inch light stand as well as white and orange filters and a hot shoe adapter that extends the capabilities of this affordable LED ring light kit.
4. FalconEyes DVR-300
With 300 pcs LED and 150 yellow color and 150 white-color lights, FalconEyes DVR-300 is one of the best ring lights currently available on the market. It also features two control dials that enable you to adjust the color of the light the device produces and a white diffuser that makes the light softer.
5. Neewer 14″ Ring Light
The 10-inch inner rim diameter may seem small when compared with larger ring lights that offer more room to operate. The Neewer Camera Ring Light is undimmable and has 50W power. The ring light uses an AC adapter, which makes it difficult to use when filming outside of a studio.
List of the Top 2 Best Softbox Video Lights
A softbox is commonly used by photographers and videographers to simulate natural light. This effect is achieved with the aid of a diffusion panel that is placed around the light source that produces continuous light. Softboxes are often less expensive than other professional lighting equipment which makes them a great option if you are working on a budget.
1. StudioFX 2400 Watt Softbox
This lighting system contains two 16x24-inch softboxes and an overhead hair light boom softbox. The stands for all three softboxes are included in the kit. Each light head is capable of holding up to four bulbs.
2. Fancierstudio 2400 Watt Professional Lighting Kit
This is a standard light setup you want to use when recording interviews, product reviews, or vlogs. It contains two 16x24-inch and one 16x16-inch softbox light that all have their own stands. Each lighthead can hold four 5500K fluorescent or daylight bulbs that are perfectly suited for work in studio conditions.
List of the Top 5 Best Umbrella Video Lights
Unlike ring lights or softboxes that provide directional light, the umbrella video lights basically bounce the light off a reflecting surface onto a subject and enable you to get a more balanced light in your videos. They are often combined with other lighting equipment to create natural scenes without hard shadows.
1. LimoStudio 700W Photography Softbox Light Lighting Kit
In addition to three lamps (two white umbrellas with 86-inch light stands and one 28-inch light stand), this kit also comes with three 45W CFL bulbs. The lamps can be tilted upward or downward, so you can find the best light position for your shot. The 9-foot cords can be used with standard 110/120V USA sockets.
2. Neewer 8.5ft x 10ft Background With 600W Umbrella Kit
Besides featuring two umbrellas and two softboxes, this kit also includes a 6x9 feet background that is perfectly suited for video production in a home-based studio. This umbrella kit uses 45W bulbs that generate natural light and have an approximate color value of 5500K. However, both umbrellas and softboxes can hold just one bulb.
3. Emart 600W Studio Photography Photo/Video Portrait Kit
Chances are that you won’t need much more than what this photo/video kit has to offer. Emart’s 600W kit includes two white and two black/silver 33-inch umbrellas as well as two 83-inch light stands and a smaller 33-inch light stand. The heavy-duty carry case can store the entire kit.
4. LINCO 600W Photography/Video Continuous Lighting Kit
The Linco 600W continuous lighting kit contains two white translucent umbrellas that generate soft light, which is quite useful if you want to get even skin tones in your videos. The kit has three lamps that use 5500K 40W bulbs and light stands you can easily carry to any filming location.
5. Emart 1575W Umbrella Lighting Kit With Translucent White & Black/Silver & Black/Gold
The greatest advantage of this Emart 1575 W Lightning kit is the three pairs of 33-inch diameter translucent/white, black/silver, and black/gold umbrellas. The 105W daylight bulbs provide enough light to work even under the most difficult light conditions, while the lightweight stands enable you to use this kit outside of your studio.
Besides the best lighting equipment, we have also summarized some tips and tricks for lighting , you should check it as well. If you find the video lighting isn’t good after recording the video, you can still improve it by adjusting brightness in post-production. Wondershare Filmora video editor features the Auto enhance feature, which can adjust the video color and brightness with one click. You can download the free trial to try it out.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
Great lighting is important if you want people to watch your YouTube videos from start to finish. Viewers want to be able to see you clearly and will click away if they cannot. Natural light works great, and it’s cheap, so if it is possible you might want to consider vlogging outside. Of course, not every type of vlog is suited to the outdoors.
Unfortunately, it is unlikely you will be able to get good quality light from the lamps and ceiling lights in your home. Floor lamps can be useful for filling shadows or backlighting but are not usually powerful enough to use as your main light. Natural light is, so one way you can get around needing a lot of lighting equipment is to use a window as your main light. This is not always possible, though. If you are going to vlog from inside your house then there is a good chance you will need to invest in some lighting equipment.
- Part 1: Best Types of Lightning Equipment for YouTube Videos
- Part 2: What Should Good Lighting Equipment Feature?
- Part 3: Best Lights and Lighting Equipment for YouTube Video Shooting
Part 1: Best Types of Lightning Equipment for YouTube Videos
Every video no matter how long or short depends on light, more than anything else. The natural light sources are often not powerful enough to light a scene you’re trying to capture, so to avoid having to deal with underexposed footage, the best solution is to use artificial lighting. Even if you want the light in your video to be completely natural, you still have to figure out a way to get rid of shadows, which brings us back to different types of lighting equipment that can be used to increase the quality of the footage you’re producing.
1. Softbox Lights
Shooting videos with only natural light will put a lot of challenges in front of you, and the best way to overcome them is to use softbox lights. These natural light emulators mimic the natural light by using diffusion panels to make the light look softer and less artificial.
Softbox lights enable you to direct light to the exact spot in the shot, and they make lighting subjects and particular parts of a scene much easier. Softboxes are available in all shapes and sizes at very reasonable prices, and they are a standard part of the equipment used for the production of YouTube videos.
2. Umbrella Lights
The newcomers to the world of YouTube video production are going to love using these lights. The umbrella lights provide a much broader source of light than the softbox lights and they are frequently used to light the entire scene. You can also add extra light on the video’s subject if you’re looking to get a more balanced shot.
They are portable and quite handy if you often shoot in different locations since you can easily pack and carry them to wherever you plan on shooting your next YouTube video.
3. Ring Lights
Although they are most frequently used for fashion and beauty videos, ring lights are a great option whenever you need to make sure that the subjects of the video are perfectly lit. These circular lights have an amount in the center, so the camera’s point of view is identical to the direction from which the light is coming.
Ring lights are powerful enough to provide light for an entire scene, and they also work nicely as a catch or fill light. Some of the most popular YouTubers like Casy Neistat or PewDiePie use ring lights in their videos.
Part 2: What Should Good Lighting Equipment Feature?
Now that you know which types of lights are commonly used on YouTube video sets, you can start looking at models that best fit your demands. There are thousands of different studio lights on the market, but only the best offer features that make the light setup process easier and faster. So before buying your lighting equipment, you should make sure that it has the following features.
1. Adjustable Beam Spread
The equipment you use should allow you to control how wide the light is spreading. This is particularly useful when you want to light just one subject in the shot while keeping the rest in the dark. Lights with an adjustable beam spread to give you versatility and enable you to adapt to a wider range of scenes.
2. The Height of the Light Stand
Most lighting kits include stands, but not all stands allow you to change the height at which the light is positioned. This can largely limit your options on the set, which is why you need to check if the stand is adjustable. You’ll also want to do a background check on the stand’s durability, because low-quality stands may cause damage to the lights and other equipment.
3. Portability
How portable your lighting equipment should be is directly related to the genre of YouTube videos you want to produce. If you are planning on shooting in studio conditions, then portability is not such an important factor, but if you want to shoot at a different location every day then portability becomes something you simply must consider.
4. Accessories
Most lightning kits include a number of handy accessories that help you achieve better results. Reflectors, barn doors, diffusers, scrims, and mounting accessories are all commonly featured in high-quality lighting kits, and you shouldn’t buy a kit that doesn’t offer at least some of the accessories we mentioned here.
5. All About Reflectors/Diffusers
White reflectors are used to simply bounce light. Silver reflectors make light a bit colder-looking, and gold reflectors give things a slightly warmer, more glamourous, look. Black and translucent ‘reflectors’ are not really for bouncing light. The black reflector blocks light, which is useful if you are trying to focus your main light so it is only lighting you and not everything behind you. The translucent reflector is actually a diffuser. Diffusers are usually set up between you and your main light to soften it and make it easier on your eyes.
Reflectors are used to bounce light towards your subject. They are great for filling shadows created by your main light. This reflector is five reflectors in one: silver, gold, black, white, and translucent.
Part 3: Best Lights and Lighting Equipment for YouTube Videos
Consumer-level camera sensors are nowhere close to being as sensitive to light as our eyes. So a scene that may look sufficiently lit to our eyes may be too dark for the camera. When you’re shooting video indoors, you’ll need additional lighting equipment. Here are some of the top seventeen best lighting equipment for YouTubers.
List of the Top 5 Best On-Camera LED Lights
What is an On-Camera LED Light?
On-Camera LED lights are LED lights that can be mounted directly onto your camera’s hot/cold shoe (the little bracket on the top of a lot of DSLR cameras). On-camera LED lights are great for on-the-go YouTubers and YouTubers short on recording space because these lights are small and portable.
1. Julius Studio 160 LED Light with 4 Color Filters
The Julius Studio 160 LED light not only can be mounted on any digital camera that has a hot/cold shoe but it can also be mounted on light stands so you can keep the same light setting even if you are moving the camera around. This lighting equipment also comes with four color filters so that you can control the color temperature of your light.
2. Viltrox L116B highest RA CRI95 LED Light Panel
The VILTROX L116B LED light panel is a powerful piece of on-camera lighting equipment. As you can see from the back view of this light panel, you can see how much battery you have left as well as digitally set the color temperature of your light. It also features PWM light adjustment technology that reduces power consumption. As this equipment comes with an AC adapter, you can choose to use this outdoors or indoors.
3. Chromo Inc CI55000230 Macro Ring 48 LED Power Light
If you’re looking for an on-camera ring light, Chromo Inc’s macro ring light is a great option. This ring light mounts onto the lens of your SLR camera and its power source (two AA batteries) attaches to your camera’s hot/cold shoe. Get that nice-looking ring light reflection in your eyes as you film with this portable ring light!
4. Neewer CN-216 216PCS LED Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel
The Neewer 216 PCS LED dimmable light panel is powerful lighting equipment at a cheap price. You can adjust the color temperature of this light from 3200K up 5400K. This piece of equipment is only battery-powered, but you do have the option to either use six AA batteries or specific Sony NP series batteries, or Panasonic CGR-D16S rechargeable batteries.
5. Neewer 160 LED CN-160 Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel
This light is Neewer’s cheaper version of the CN-216. Instead of having 216 LED light bulbs, this light has 160 LED light bulbs. Other than the number of light bulbs, the two light panels are pretty much the same.
List of the Top 5 Best LED Ring Lights
LED ring lights are called ring lights because of their ring-like shape. The opening in the ring allows you to position your camera right in the center of this lighting equipment. These lights are great if you don’t have a lot of space.
1. Diva Ring Light Super Nova
The Diva ring light is a great ring light for divas, make-up artists, and anyone else wanting to look good right in front of the camera! This LED ring light has a dimming knob so that you can adjust the brightness of your light. It also comes with a cloth for you to diffuse your light (so that your light will be softer) and a gooseneck and z-bracket attachment if you want to use your camera and ring light with just one tripod.
2. Prismatic Halo Ring Light
The Prismatic Halo ring light is another great ring light option. It comes with a canvas travel bag, making it easier to store away or take around with you. The 110-120 VAC, 5400K light bulb produces light that can be dimmed as well. The Prismatic Halo Ring kit doesn’t include a light stand.
3. Neewer Dimmable 18” Ring Light
The 18-inch light ring uses fluorescent light. In addition, this kit includes a 59-inch light stand as well as white and orange filters and a hot shoe adapter that extends the capabilities of this affordable LED ring light kit.
4. FalconEyes DVR-300
With 300 pcs LED and 150 yellow color and 150 white-color lights, FalconEyes DVR-300 is one of the best ring lights currently available on the market. It also features two control dials that enable you to adjust the color of the light the device produces and a white diffuser that makes the light softer.
5. Neewer 14″ Ring Light
The 10-inch inner rim diameter may seem small when compared with larger ring lights that offer more room to operate. The Neewer Camera Ring Light is undimmable and has 50W power. The ring light uses an AC adapter, which makes it difficult to use when filming outside of a studio.
List of the Top 2 Best Softbox Video Lights
A softbox is commonly used by photographers and videographers to simulate natural light. This effect is achieved with the aid of a diffusion panel that is placed around the light source that produces continuous light. Softboxes are often less expensive than other professional lighting equipment which makes them a great option if you are working on a budget.
1. StudioFX 2400 Watt Softbox
This lighting system contains two 16x24-inch softboxes and an overhead hair light boom softbox. The stands for all three softboxes are included in the kit. Each light head is capable of holding up to four bulbs.
2. Fancierstudio 2400 Watt Professional Lighting Kit
This is a standard light setup you want to use when recording interviews, product reviews, or vlogs. It contains two 16x24-inch and one 16x16-inch softbox light that all have their own stands. Each lighthead can hold four 5500K fluorescent or daylight bulbs that are perfectly suited for work in studio conditions.
List of the Top 5 Best Umbrella Video Lights
Unlike ring lights or softboxes that provide directional light, the umbrella video lights basically bounce the light off a reflecting surface onto a subject and enable you to get a more balanced light in your videos. They are often combined with other lighting equipment to create natural scenes without hard shadows.
1. LimoStudio 700W Photography Softbox Light Lighting Kit
In addition to three lamps (two white umbrellas with 86-inch light stands and one 28-inch light stand), this kit also comes with three 45W CFL bulbs. The lamps can be tilted upward or downward, so you can find the best light position for your shot. The 9-foot cords can be used with standard 110/120V USA sockets.
2. Neewer 8.5ft x 10ft Background With 600W Umbrella Kit
Besides featuring two umbrellas and two softboxes, this kit also includes a 6x9 feet background that is perfectly suited for video production in a home-based studio. This umbrella kit uses 45W bulbs that generate natural light and have an approximate color value of 5500K. However, both umbrellas and softboxes can hold just one bulb.
3. Emart 600W Studio Photography Photo/Video Portrait Kit
Chances are that you won’t need much more than what this photo/video kit has to offer. Emart’s 600W kit includes two white and two black/silver 33-inch umbrellas as well as two 83-inch light stands and a smaller 33-inch light stand. The heavy-duty carry case can store the entire kit.
4. LINCO 600W Photography/Video Continuous Lighting Kit
The Linco 600W continuous lighting kit contains two white translucent umbrellas that generate soft light, which is quite useful if you want to get even skin tones in your videos. The kit has three lamps that use 5500K 40W bulbs and light stands you can easily carry to any filming location.
5. Emart 1575W Umbrella Lighting Kit With Translucent White & Black/Silver & Black/Gold
The greatest advantage of this Emart 1575 W Lightning kit is the three pairs of 33-inch diameter translucent/white, black/silver, and black/gold umbrellas. The 105W daylight bulbs provide enough light to work even under the most difficult light conditions, while the lightweight stands enable you to use this kit outside of your studio.
Besides the best lighting equipment, we have also summarized some tips and tricks for lighting , you should check it as well. If you find the video lighting isn’t good after recording the video, you can still improve it by adjusting brightness in post-production. Wondershare Filmora video editor features the Auto enhance feature, which can adjust the video color and brightness with one click. You can download the free trial to try it out.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
Great lighting is important if you want people to watch your YouTube videos from start to finish. Viewers want to be able to see you clearly and will click away if they cannot. Natural light works great, and it’s cheap, so if it is possible you might want to consider vlogging outside. Of course, not every type of vlog is suited to the outdoors.
Unfortunately, it is unlikely you will be able to get good quality light from the lamps and ceiling lights in your home. Floor lamps can be useful for filling shadows or backlighting but are not usually powerful enough to use as your main light. Natural light is, so one way you can get around needing a lot of lighting equipment is to use a window as your main light. This is not always possible, though. If you are going to vlog from inside your house then there is a good chance you will need to invest in some lighting equipment.
- Part 1: Best Types of Lightning Equipment for YouTube Videos
- Part 2: What Should Good Lighting Equipment Feature?
- Part 3: Best Lights and Lighting Equipment for YouTube Video Shooting
Part 1: Best Types of Lightning Equipment for YouTube Videos
Every video no matter how long or short depends on light, more than anything else. The natural light sources are often not powerful enough to light a scene you’re trying to capture, so to avoid having to deal with underexposed footage, the best solution is to use artificial lighting. Even if you want the light in your video to be completely natural, you still have to figure out a way to get rid of shadows, which brings us back to different types of lighting equipment that can be used to increase the quality of the footage you’re producing.
1. Softbox Lights
Shooting videos with only natural light will put a lot of challenges in front of you, and the best way to overcome them is to use softbox lights. These natural light emulators mimic the natural light by using diffusion panels to make the light look softer and less artificial.
Softbox lights enable you to direct light to the exact spot in the shot, and they make lighting subjects and particular parts of a scene much easier. Softboxes are available in all shapes and sizes at very reasonable prices, and they are a standard part of the equipment used for the production of YouTube videos.
2. Umbrella Lights
The newcomers to the world of YouTube video production are going to love using these lights. The umbrella lights provide a much broader source of light than the softbox lights and they are frequently used to light the entire scene. You can also add extra light on the video’s subject if you’re looking to get a more balanced shot.
They are portable and quite handy if you often shoot in different locations since you can easily pack and carry them to wherever you plan on shooting your next YouTube video.
3. Ring Lights
Although they are most frequently used for fashion and beauty videos, ring lights are a great option whenever you need to make sure that the subjects of the video are perfectly lit. These circular lights have an amount in the center, so the camera’s point of view is identical to the direction from which the light is coming.
Ring lights are powerful enough to provide light for an entire scene, and they also work nicely as a catch or fill light. Some of the most popular YouTubers like Casy Neistat or PewDiePie use ring lights in their videos.
Part 2: What Should Good Lighting Equipment Feature?
Now that you know which types of lights are commonly used on YouTube video sets, you can start looking at models that best fit your demands. There are thousands of different studio lights on the market, but only the best offer features that make the light setup process easier and faster. So before buying your lighting equipment, you should make sure that it has the following features.
1. Adjustable Beam Spread
The equipment you use should allow you to control how wide the light is spreading. This is particularly useful when you want to light just one subject in the shot while keeping the rest in the dark. Lights with an adjustable beam spread to give you versatility and enable you to adapt to a wider range of scenes.
2. The Height of the Light Stand
Most lighting kits include stands, but not all stands allow you to change the height at which the light is positioned. This can largely limit your options on the set, which is why you need to check if the stand is adjustable. You’ll also want to do a background check on the stand’s durability, because low-quality stands may cause damage to the lights and other equipment.
3. Portability
How portable your lighting equipment should be is directly related to the genre of YouTube videos you want to produce. If you are planning on shooting in studio conditions, then portability is not such an important factor, but if you want to shoot at a different location every day then portability becomes something you simply must consider.
4. Accessories
Most lightning kits include a number of handy accessories that help you achieve better results. Reflectors, barn doors, diffusers, scrims, and mounting accessories are all commonly featured in high-quality lighting kits, and you shouldn’t buy a kit that doesn’t offer at least some of the accessories we mentioned here.
5. All About Reflectors/Diffusers
White reflectors are used to simply bounce light. Silver reflectors make light a bit colder-looking, and gold reflectors give things a slightly warmer, more glamourous, look. Black and translucent ‘reflectors’ are not really for bouncing light. The black reflector blocks light, which is useful if you are trying to focus your main light so it is only lighting you and not everything behind you. The translucent reflector is actually a diffuser. Diffusers are usually set up between you and your main light to soften it and make it easier on your eyes.
Reflectors are used to bounce light towards your subject. They are great for filling shadows created by your main light. This reflector is five reflectors in one: silver, gold, black, white, and translucent.
Part 3: Best Lights and Lighting Equipment for YouTube Videos
Consumer-level camera sensors are nowhere close to being as sensitive to light as our eyes. So a scene that may look sufficiently lit to our eyes may be too dark for the camera. When you’re shooting video indoors, you’ll need additional lighting equipment. Here are some of the top seventeen best lighting equipment for YouTubers.
List of the Top 5 Best On-Camera LED Lights
What is an On-Camera LED Light?
On-Camera LED lights are LED lights that can be mounted directly onto your camera’s hot/cold shoe (the little bracket on the top of a lot of DSLR cameras). On-camera LED lights are great for on-the-go YouTubers and YouTubers short on recording space because these lights are small and portable.
1. Julius Studio 160 LED Light with 4 Color Filters
The Julius Studio 160 LED light not only can be mounted on any digital camera that has a hot/cold shoe but it can also be mounted on light stands so you can keep the same light setting even if you are moving the camera around. This lighting equipment also comes with four color filters so that you can control the color temperature of your light.
2. Viltrox L116B highest RA CRI95 LED Light Panel
The VILTROX L116B LED light panel is a powerful piece of on-camera lighting equipment. As you can see from the back view of this light panel, you can see how much battery you have left as well as digitally set the color temperature of your light. It also features PWM light adjustment technology that reduces power consumption. As this equipment comes with an AC adapter, you can choose to use this outdoors or indoors.
3. Chromo Inc CI55000230 Macro Ring 48 LED Power Light
If you’re looking for an on-camera ring light, Chromo Inc’s macro ring light is a great option. This ring light mounts onto the lens of your SLR camera and its power source (two AA batteries) attaches to your camera’s hot/cold shoe. Get that nice-looking ring light reflection in your eyes as you film with this portable ring light!
4. Neewer CN-216 216PCS LED Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel
The Neewer 216 PCS LED dimmable light panel is powerful lighting equipment at a cheap price. You can adjust the color temperature of this light from 3200K up 5400K. This piece of equipment is only battery-powered, but you do have the option to either use six AA batteries or specific Sony NP series batteries, or Panasonic CGR-D16S rechargeable batteries.
5. Neewer 160 LED CN-160 Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel
This light is Neewer’s cheaper version of the CN-216. Instead of having 216 LED light bulbs, this light has 160 LED light bulbs. Other than the number of light bulbs, the two light panels are pretty much the same.
List of the Top 5 Best LED Ring Lights
LED ring lights are called ring lights because of their ring-like shape. The opening in the ring allows you to position your camera right in the center of this lighting equipment. These lights are great if you don’t have a lot of space.
1. Diva Ring Light Super Nova
The Diva ring light is a great ring light for divas, make-up artists, and anyone else wanting to look good right in front of the camera! This LED ring light has a dimming knob so that you can adjust the brightness of your light. It also comes with a cloth for you to diffuse your light (so that your light will be softer) and a gooseneck and z-bracket attachment if you want to use your camera and ring light with just one tripod.
2. Prismatic Halo Ring Light
The Prismatic Halo ring light is another great ring light option. It comes with a canvas travel bag, making it easier to store away or take around with you. The 110-120 VAC, 5400K light bulb produces light that can be dimmed as well. The Prismatic Halo Ring kit doesn’t include a light stand.
3. Neewer Dimmable 18” Ring Light
The 18-inch light ring uses fluorescent light. In addition, this kit includes a 59-inch light stand as well as white and orange filters and a hot shoe adapter that extends the capabilities of this affordable LED ring light kit.
4. FalconEyes DVR-300
With 300 pcs LED and 150 yellow color and 150 white-color lights, FalconEyes DVR-300 is one of the best ring lights currently available on the market. It also features two control dials that enable you to adjust the color of the light the device produces and a white diffuser that makes the light softer.
5. Neewer 14″ Ring Light
The 10-inch inner rim diameter may seem small when compared with larger ring lights that offer more room to operate. The Neewer Camera Ring Light is undimmable and has 50W power. The ring light uses an AC adapter, which makes it difficult to use when filming outside of a studio.
List of the Top 2 Best Softbox Video Lights
A softbox is commonly used by photographers and videographers to simulate natural light. This effect is achieved with the aid of a diffusion panel that is placed around the light source that produces continuous light. Softboxes are often less expensive than other professional lighting equipment which makes them a great option if you are working on a budget.
1. StudioFX 2400 Watt Softbox
This lighting system contains two 16x24-inch softboxes and an overhead hair light boom softbox. The stands for all three softboxes are included in the kit. Each light head is capable of holding up to four bulbs.
2. Fancierstudio 2400 Watt Professional Lighting Kit
This is a standard light setup you want to use when recording interviews, product reviews, or vlogs. It contains two 16x24-inch and one 16x16-inch softbox light that all have their own stands. Each lighthead can hold four 5500K fluorescent or daylight bulbs that are perfectly suited for work in studio conditions.
List of the Top 5 Best Umbrella Video Lights
Unlike ring lights or softboxes that provide directional light, the umbrella video lights basically bounce the light off a reflecting surface onto a subject and enable you to get a more balanced light in your videos. They are often combined with other lighting equipment to create natural scenes without hard shadows.
1. LimoStudio 700W Photography Softbox Light Lighting Kit
In addition to three lamps (two white umbrellas with 86-inch light stands and one 28-inch light stand), this kit also comes with three 45W CFL bulbs. The lamps can be tilted upward or downward, so you can find the best light position for your shot. The 9-foot cords can be used with standard 110/120V USA sockets.
2. Neewer 8.5ft x 10ft Background With 600W Umbrella Kit
Besides featuring two umbrellas and two softboxes, this kit also includes a 6x9 feet background that is perfectly suited for video production in a home-based studio. This umbrella kit uses 45W bulbs that generate natural light and have an approximate color value of 5500K. However, both umbrellas and softboxes can hold just one bulb.
3. Emart 600W Studio Photography Photo/Video Portrait Kit
Chances are that you won’t need much more than what this photo/video kit has to offer. Emart’s 600W kit includes two white and two black/silver 33-inch umbrellas as well as two 83-inch light stands and a smaller 33-inch light stand. The heavy-duty carry case can store the entire kit.
4. LINCO 600W Photography/Video Continuous Lighting Kit
The Linco 600W continuous lighting kit contains two white translucent umbrellas that generate soft light, which is quite useful if you want to get even skin tones in your videos. The kit has three lamps that use 5500K 40W bulbs and light stands you can easily carry to any filming location.
5. Emart 1575W Umbrella Lighting Kit With Translucent White & Black/Silver & Black/Gold
The greatest advantage of this Emart 1575 W Lightning kit is the three pairs of 33-inch diameter translucent/white, black/silver, and black/gold umbrellas. The 105W daylight bulbs provide enough light to work even under the most difficult light conditions, while the lightweight stands enable you to use this kit outside of your studio.
Besides the best lighting equipment, we have also summarized some tips and tricks for lighting , you should check it as well. If you find the video lighting isn’t good after recording the video, you can still improve it by adjusting brightness in post-production. Wondershare Filmora video editor features the Auto enhance feature, which can adjust the video color and brightness with one click. You can download the free trial to try it out.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
Great lighting is important if you want people to watch your YouTube videos from start to finish. Viewers want to be able to see you clearly and will click away if they cannot. Natural light works great, and it’s cheap, so if it is possible you might want to consider vlogging outside. Of course, not every type of vlog is suited to the outdoors.
Unfortunately, it is unlikely you will be able to get good quality light from the lamps and ceiling lights in your home. Floor lamps can be useful for filling shadows or backlighting but are not usually powerful enough to use as your main light. Natural light is, so one way you can get around needing a lot of lighting equipment is to use a window as your main light. This is not always possible, though. If you are going to vlog from inside your house then there is a good chance you will need to invest in some lighting equipment.
- Part 1: Best Types of Lightning Equipment for YouTube Videos
- Part 2: What Should Good Lighting Equipment Feature?
- Part 3: Best Lights and Lighting Equipment for YouTube Video Shooting
Part 1: Best Types of Lightning Equipment for YouTube Videos
Every video no matter how long or short depends on light, more than anything else. The natural light sources are often not powerful enough to light a scene you’re trying to capture, so to avoid having to deal with underexposed footage, the best solution is to use artificial lighting. Even if you want the light in your video to be completely natural, you still have to figure out a way to get rid of shadows, which brings us back to different types of lighting equipment that can be used to increase the quality of the footage you’re producing.
1. Softbox Lights
Shooting videos with only natural light will put a lot of challenges in front of you, and the best way to overcome them is to use softbox lights. These natural light emulators mimic the natural light by using diffusion panels to make the light look softer and less artificial.
Softbox lights enable you to direct light to the exact spot in the shot, and they make lighting subjects and particular parts of a scene much easier. Softboxes are available in all shapes and sizes at very reasonable prices, and they are a standard part of the equipment used for the production of YouTube videos.
2. Umbrella Lights
The newcomers to the world of YouTube video production are going to love using these lights. The umbrella lights provide a much broader source of light than the softbox lights and they are frequently used to light the entire scene. You can also add extra light on the video’s subject if you’re looking to get a more balanced shot.
They are portable and quite handy if you often shoot in different locations since you can easily pack and carry them to wherever you plan on shooting your next YouTube video.
3. Ring Lights
Although they are most frequently used for fashion and beauty videos, ring lights are a great option whenever you need to make sure that the subjects of the video are perfectly lit. These circular lights have an amount in the center, so the camera’s point of view is identical to the direction from which the light is coming.
Ring lights are powerful enough to provide light for an entire scene, and they also work nicely as a catch or fill light. Some of the most popular YouTubers like Casy Neistat or PewDiePie use ring lights in their videos.
Part 2: What Should Good Lighting Equipment Feature?
Now that you know which types of lights are commonly used on YouTube video sets, you can start looking at models that best fit your demands. There are thousands of different studio lights on the market, but only the best offer features that make the light setup process easier and faster. So before buying your lighting equipment, you should make sure that it has the following features.
1. Adjustable Beam Spread
The equipment you use should allow you to control how wide the light is spreading. This is particularly useful when you want to light just one subject in the shot while keeping the rest in the dark. Lights with an adjustable beam spread to give you versatility and enable you to adapt to a wider range of scenes.
2. The Height of the Light Stand
Most lighting kits include stands, but not all stands allow you to change the height at which the light is positioned. This can largely limit your options on the set, which is why you need to check if the stand is adjustable. You’ll also want to do a background check on the stand’s durability, because low-quality stands may cause damage to the lights and other equipment.
3. Portability
How portable your lighting equipment should be is directly related to the genre of YouTube videos you want to produce. If you are planning on shooting in studio conditions, then portability is not such an important factor, but if you want to shoot at a different location every day then portability becomes something you simply must consider.
4. Accessories
Most lightning kits include a number of handy accessories that help you achieve better results. Reflectors, barn doors, diffusers, scrims, and mounting accessories are all commonly featured in high-quality lighting kits, and you shouldn’t buy a kit that doesn’t offer at least some of the accessories we mentioned here.
5. All About Reflectors/Diffusers
White reflectors are used to simply bounce light. Silver reflectors make light a bit colder-looking, and gold reflectors give things a slightly warmer, more glamourous, look. Black and translucent ‘reflectors’ are not really for bouncing light. The black reflector blocks light, which is useful if you are trying to focus your main light so it is only lighting you and not everything behind you. The translucent reflector is actually a diffuser. Diffusers are usually set up between you and your main light to soften it and make it easier on your eyes.
Reflectors are used to bounce light towards your subject. They are great for filling shadows created by your main light. This reflector is five reflectors in one: silver, gold, black, white, and translucent.
Part 3: Best Lights and Lighting Equipment for YouTube Videos
Consumer-level camera sensors are nowhere close to being as sensitive to light as our eyes. So a scene that may look sufficiently lit to our eyes may be too dark for the camera. When you’re shooting video indoors, you’ll need additional lighting equipment. Here are some of the top seventeen best lighting equipment for YouTubers.
List of the Top 5 Best On-Camera LED Lights
What is an On-Camera LED Light?
On-Camera LED lights are LED lights that can be mounted directly onto your camera’s hot/cold shoe (the little bracket on the top of a lot of DSLR cameras). On-camera LED lights are great for on-the-go YouTubers and YouTubers short on recording space because these lights are small and portable.
1. Julius Studio 160 LED Light with 4 Color Filters
The Julius Studio 160 LED light not only can be mounted on any digital camera that has a hot/cold shoe but it can also be mounted on light stands so you can keep the same light setting even if you are moving the camera around. This lighting equipment also comes with four color filters so that you can control the color temperature of your light.
2. Viltrox L116B highest RA CRI95 LED Light Panel
The VILTROX L116B LED light panel is a powerful piece of on-camera lighting equipment. As you can see from the back view of this light panel, you can see how much battery you have left as well as digitally set the color temperature of your light. It also features PWM light adjustment technology that reduces power consumption. As this equipment comes with an AC adapter, you can choose to use this outdoors or indoors.
3. Chromo Inc CI55000230 Macro Ring 48 LED Power Light
If you’re looking for an on-camera ring light, Chromo Inc’s macro ring light is a great option. This ring light mounts onto the lens of your SLR camera and its power source (two AA batteries) attaches to your camera’s hot/cold shoe. Get that nice-looking ring light reflection in your eyes as you film with this portable ring light!
4. Neewer CN-216 216PCS LED Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel
The Neewer 216 PCS LED dimmable light panel is powerful lighting equipment at a cheap price. You can adjust the color temperature of this light from 3200K up 5400K. This piece of equipment is only battery-powered, but you do have the option to either use six AA batteries or specific Sony NP series batteries, or Panasonic CGR-D16S rechargeable batteries.
5. Neewer 160 LED CN-160 Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel
This light is Neewer’s cheaper version of the CN-216. Instead of having 216 LED light bulbs, this light has 160 LED light bulbs. Other than the number of light bulbs, the two light panels are pretty much the same.
List of the Top 5 Best LED Ring Lights
LED ring lights are called ring lights because of their ring-like shape. The opening in the ring allows you to position your camera right in the center of this lighting equipment. These lights are great if you don’t have a lot of space.
1. Diva Ring Light Super Nova
The Diva ring light is a great ring light for divas, make-up artists, and anyone else wanting to look good right in front of the camera! This LED ring light has a dimming knob so that you can adjust the brightness of your light. It also comes with a cloth for you to diffuse your light (so that your light will be softer) and a gooseneck and z-bracket attachment if you want to use your camera and ring light with just one tripod.
2. Prismatic Halo Ring Light
The Prismatic Halo ring light is another great ring light option. It comes with a canvas travel bag, making it easier to store away or take around with you. The 110-120 VAC, 5400K light bulb produces light that can be dimmed as well. The Prismatic Halo Ring kit doesn’t include a light stand.
3. Neewer Dimmable 18” Ring Light
The 18-inch light ring uses fluorescent light. In addition, this kit includes a 59-inch light stand as well as white and orange filters and a hot shoe adapter that extends the capabilities of this affordable LED ring light kit.
4. FalconEyes DVR-300
With 300 pcs LED and 150 yellow color and 150 white-color lights, FalconEyes DVR-300 is one of the best ring lights currently available on the market. It also features two control dials that enable you to adjust the color of the light the device produces and a white diffuser that makes the light softer.
5. Neewer 14″ Ring Light
The 10-inch inner rim diameter may seem small when compared with larger ring lights that offer more room to operate. The Neewer Camera Ring Light is undimmable and has 50W power. The ring light uses an AC adapter, which makes it difficult to use when filming outside of a studio.
List of the Top 2 Best Softbox Video Lights
A softbox is commonly used by photographers and videographers to simulate natural light. This effect is achieved with the aid of a diffusion panel that is placed around the light source that produces continuous light. Softboxes are often less expensive than other professional lighting equipment which makes them a great option if you are working on a budget.
1. StudioFX 2400 Watt Softbox
This lighting system contains two 16x24-inch softboxes and an overhead hair light boom softbox. The stands for all three softboxes are included in the kit. Each light head is capable of holding up to four bulbs.
2. Fancierstudio 2400 Watt Professional Lighting Kit
This is a standard light setup you want to use when recording interviews, product reviews, or vlogs. It contains two 16x24-inch and one 16x16-inch softbox light that all have their own stands. Each lighthead can hold four 5500K fluorescent or daylight bulbs that are perfectly suited for work in studio conditions.
List of the Top 5 Best Umbrella Video Lights
Unlike ring lights or softboxes that provide directional light, the umbrella video lights basically bounce the light off a reflecting surface onto a subject and enable you to get a more balanced light in your videos. They are often combined with other lighting equipment to create natural scenes without hard shadows.
1. LimoStudio 700W Photography Softbox Light Lighting Kit
In addition to three lamps (two white umbrellas with 86-inch light stands and one 28-inch light stand), this kit also comes with three 45W CFL bulbs. The lamps can be tilted upward or downward, so you can find the best light position for your shot. The 9-foot cords can be used with standard 110/120V USA sockets.
2. Neewer 8.5ft x 10ft Background With 600W Umbrella Kit
Besides featuring two umbrellas and two softboxes, this kit also includes a 6x9 feet background that is perfectly suited for video production in a home-based studio. This umbrella kit uses 45W bulbs that generate natural light and have an approximate color value of 5500K. However, both umbrellas and softboxes can hold just one bulb.
3. Emart 600W Studio Photography Photo/Video Portrait Kit
Chances are that you won’t need much more than what this photo/video kit has to offer. Emart’s 600W kit includes two white and two black/silver 33-inch umbrellas as well as two 83-inch light stands and a smaller 33-inch light stand. The heavy-duty carry case can store the entire kit.
4. LINCO 600W Photography/Video Continuous Lighting Kit
The Linco 600W continuous lighting kit contains two white translucent umbrellas that generate soft light, which is quite useful if you want to get even skin tones in your videos. The kit has three lamps that use 5500K 40W bulbs and light stands you can easily carry to any filming location.
5. Emart 1575W Umbrella Lighting Kit With Translucent White & Black/Silver & Black/Gold
The greatest advantage of this Emart 1575 W Lightning kit is the three pairs of 33-inch diameter translucent/white, black/silver, and black/gold umbrellas. The 105W daylight bulbs provide enough light to work even under the most difficult light conditions, while the lightweight stands enable you to use this kit outside of your studio.
Besides the best lighting equipment, we have also summarized some tips and tricks for lighting , you should check it as well. If you find the video lighting isn’t good after recording the video, you can still improve it by adjusting brightness in post-production. Wondershare Filmora video editor features the Auto enhance feature, which can adjust the video color and brightness with one click. You can download the free trial to try it out.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Also read:
- From Conceptualization to Production A Guide to Making Mukbang
- Efface Thin Borders for a Seamless YouTube Experience
- 2024 Guide to Share YouTube Video on Facebook
- Ultimate Mic for Digital Content Makers
- Optimize YouTube Visibility by Sustaining Creativity Commons License
- In 2024, Critical Clip Climbers Ranking Video Hours From #1 to #10
- Push More Viewers to Your Channel with Easy Tricks (2)
- Turn Your Twitch Sessions Into YouTube Stories
- [New] Blueprinting Engaging Content Layouts on YouTube
- Audience Wave Top Hash Tags to Swell Youtube Views for 2024
- [New] 4 Creative Ways to Insert YouTube Content in Presentations
- Revolutionize Your Content with YouTube Split-Screen Videos
- Easy Guide Unearthing Your YouTube Compliments & Critiques
- Building Size
- Livestream Platform Push Facebook Vs. YouTube & Periscope
- 2024 Approved Ajey's YouTube Earnings Insight - 2023
- Strategic Synergy in Streams Dissecting Your Videos From Rivals'
- Best Alternative to YouTube IOS & Android's 10 Leading Video Sites
- [Updated] Engaging Viewers with Ease The Art of Confidently Filming
- The Greatest Satirical Serenades
- How to Rotate YouTube Videos by Any Angle [2023 Guide &Editors]
- The Beauty Bard In-Depth Gear & Tutorial Roundups
- Unlocking the Code to Content Creator Commerce with Carminati (AJay)
- Perfect Start Leading Free Video Openers Listed
- Leveraging YouTube's Features to Improve Visuals
- Optimal Filming Equipment Advice on Choosing the Best Lenses
- 2024 Approved Custom-Length Filming Submitted to YouTube
- 2024 Approved Boost Your Search Rankings Expert Reviews on 7 Cost-Effective Video Tags Extractors
- 2024 Approved Engaging Audiences Triad of Effective Storytelling
- [New] Curating YouTube Music Experiences
- [New] Essential GIF Creation Best Tools Reviewed & Compared
- Creating Content with Purpose Balancing Job & YouTube
- [Updated] Enchanting Music Visuals Using the Lyric Video Maker Toolkit
- In 2024, Detailed Tutorial Convert Your Shorts to the Best MP4
- [Updated] Bite-Sized Broadcasting Maintaining Quality in Quick Posts
- Tunes Takeover Transitioning Tracks to YouTube
- 2024 Approved The Ultimate List of Free Haunting Noise Archives
- Thinking About Changing Your Netflix Region Without a VPN On Motorola Razr 40? | Dr.fone
- [Updated] In 2024, Crucial Steps in Capturing Sporting Games Online
- [Updated] 2024 Approved Revolutionize Your TikTok Videos Streamlined Methods for New Borders
- [Updated] 2024 Approved OBS Utilization Comprehensive Gameplay Recording
- The Complete Guide to Facebook Video Aspect Ratios A One-Stop Resource for 2024
- How to Get and Use Pokemon Go Promo Codes On Motorola Moto E13 | Dr.fone
- Streamlining PC Video Cuts with Inshot
- [New] 2024 Approved Leading the Pack in Multi-Media Posting on Instagram
- Elite MP4 Media Sender for 2024
- How to bypass Huawei Nova Y71’s lock screen pattern, PIN or password
- Bringing Smiles without Dollars – The MemeMaker’s Way
- [Updated] 2024 Approved Reigning Typefaces for Triumph Best TikTok Font Generator List of '23
- How to Use Life360 on Windows PC For Apple iPhone XS Max? | Dr.fone
- New Reviewing Efectum App and The Best Alternatives for Smartphone Users
- In 2024, Uncover the Wolfs Distant Bellowing Effect
- How To Transfer WhatsApp From iPhone 12 mini to other iPhone 15 Pro Max devices? | Dr.fone
- In 2024, Android to Apple How To Transfer Photos From Tecno Spark 20C to iPad Easily | Dr.fone
- Your Guide to Genuine Selfies on Instagram's Canvas
- How to Unlock Xiaomi Redmi A2+ Phone with Broken Screen
- Android Technique Transpose Digital Media Order for 2024
- Updated Exploring 2023S AV Voice Modification Tools Reviews & Alternatives for 2024
- Infusing Videos with Apple Harmonies
- Making Time Move Backwards A Step-by-Step Guide for Instagram Videos for 2024
- [Updated] In 2024, Explore Tools That Beat ShareX Performance
- In 2024, How to Bypass FRP from Lava Yuva 2 Pro?
- Flip the Like Ratio with Squared-Up Social Media Content for 2024
- Motorola Moto G14 Screen Unresponsive? Heres How to Fix It | Dr.fone
- Premium 12 Video Capture Apps, No Time Limit
- Superior 6 Apps to Subtitle Videos Internationally
- [New] FREE Top 8 Best Apps to Get Likes on Instagram for 2024
- Instagram Audio Intellectual Property for 2024
- Title: "2024 Approved Cutting-Edge Techniques for Powerful YouTube Thumbnail Designs"
- Author: Steven
- Created at : 2024-05-25 21:09:40
- Updated at : 2024-05-26 21:09:40
- Link: https://youtube-clips.techidaily.com/2024-approved-cutting-edge-techniques-for-powerful-youtube-thumbnail-designs/
- License: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
