Home fitness blogger lighting tutorial

Ordinary home fitness bloggers do not need thousands of film and television-level equipment. The three-point variant solution of "high CRI main light + low brightness fill light + weak contour light" can be implemented for less than 1,000 yuan. It can completely cover the entire scene of short video shooting, live broadcast and training. The muscle lines in the photos are clear and not flat, the skin color is natural and not gray, and there is no flicker or afterimage during exercise. This is the best solution I came up with after working as a fitness blogger for 3 years and testing 17 sets of lighting equipment.

I was stupid when I first stepped into the trap. I just used the ceiling lamp that came with the living room to take pictures. The abdominal muscles that I had practiced for two months looked like a white board. The trapezius muscles were hit by the overhead light and looked like they were padded with sponges. When I danced Pamela, the picture was still stuck one after another. Fans commented and asked me if I had turned on the 0.5x slow motion. I couldn't laugh or cry. Later, I learned that the lighting of fitness content is completely different from that of ordinary beauty makeup. Makeup must be even and smooth, and we must have appropriate shadows to show muscle lines. We must also adapt to scenes of large-scale movements, and we must not leave afterimages or shake eyes when we move.

There are actually two schools of thought in the industry that are quarreling quite fiercely now. Let me objectively talk about the advantages and disadvantages of each. One group is the "natural light party", who insist that as long as you look for a floor-to-ceiling window facing north between 2 and 4 p.m., you can take photos with a natural soft focus and transparent skin without spending a penny. This is really not a lie. I shot several 100,000+ strength training videos at this point last summer without even adding a filter. But the problem is also very realistic: You can’t always live broadcast at this point, right? What if it’s cloudy on Saturdays and Sundays, and it gets dark at 4 o’clock in the winter? Can’t we notify fans at short notice to stop updating? Moreover, if the background is facing a window, it is particularly easy for you to be backlit when doing movements such as deadlifts and bent-over rowing. Your face will look as dark as if you just finished a triathlon. Fans will not be able to see clearly whether you are hunching your chest or not, and you will not be able to attract people at all. The other group is the "professional equipment party". They recommend movie lights costing several thousand yuan, saying that the quality of the shots produced by stretching the display finger is invincible. I have also tried this, and the effect is good, but it is really unnecessary - home fitness content is not for shooting cinema blockbusters. As long as the parameters of ordinary lights that cost more than 100 yuan meet the standard, the effect of the film will be almost the same when viewed on the mobile phone, so it is not worth spending the money.

When it comes to practical operation, there is only one core parameter that must be stuck: no matter what kind of light you buy, the display index Ra must be ≥95, and it must be marked "no harmful blue light, no video flicker". Don't buy three-no LED lights for tens of dollars on the cheap. I bought three on the cheap before, and the lens was full of ripples when I moved it. Fans said they were dizzy after watching it for five minutes, and the return shipping cost me dozens of dollars. For the main light, choose a COB fill light of over 200W, equipped with a 60cm soft box, and place it diagonally in front of you at a position of 45 degrees. The height is about 30 centimeters higher than when you stand straight. Press the lamp head down 15 degrees. The light from this angle is just enough to leave natural shadows on the biceps, abdominal muscles, and waistcoat lines. It will not make people look like flat white paper figures. Ordinary domestic brands can be purchased for more than 300 yuan, and there is no need to buy imported ones.

After the main light is set up, if you raise your arm to the side of the camera, you will see that there will be obvious dark areas on the arm and side of the face on the other side. It will look like half of your body is tanned. At this time, just add a 100W flat fill light and place it diagonally in front of the other side. Adjust the brightness to 1/3 of the main light. It doesn't need to be too bright. It just brings out the details in the dark parts and doesn't make the difference between light and dark too big. By the way, sisters who are doing butt and leg training, remember to prepare a small table top fill light and put it next to your feet, otherwise the lower half of the legs will be dark, and it will be 10 centimeters shorter when photographed. Don’t ask me how I know this. I did a butt bridge video before, and half the page in the comment area was asking me if I am 150cm tall. I am 168cm!

Contour light is a very cost-effective bonus item, but many people say it is useless. My own experience is: if you just take casual daily photos, you can indeed save money, but if you want to make your account more recognizable, the investment of dozens of dollars is really worth it. Just buy an ordinary RGB light stick and put it on the shelf behind you. Don't point it directly at the camera, but point it at the wall or ceiling. Just choose cool white or light blue, which can just create a light edge around your shoulders and hair. Even if you wear black sportswear, it won't blend into the dark background. The picture gradation is particularly obvious when you move, and fans won't get tired easily after watching it for a long time.

If you are just starting out now and don't even have a budget of 200 yuan, you can still make up usable lighting: turn on the white ceiling lamp at home to full brightness, place a desk lamp with a diffuser on each side in front of you, and find a flashlight behind you to shine on the wall. This is how I made my first video that exceeded 100,000 likes. Except for the slightly heavy shadow, everything else is completely sufficient. There is really no need to buy a bunch of expensive equipment first. The content is done first. Lighting is just a bonus, not a required option.