Top Photography Lighting Tips to Improve Your Business' Social Media Presence
Are you looking to elevate your business's social media presence through captivating visuals? Look no further! In today's digital age, high-quality photography and video content are essential for engaging with your audience. Here are some top photography and video lighting tips to help you stand out on social media platforms.
Why is Lighting so Important?
Lighting plays a crucial role in photography, as it can make or break the quality of your images. When it comes to social media, well-lit photos and videos are more likely to grab the attention of your followers, as it gives you the tools to be able to properly show off the products you're selling in a way that not only represents them clearly, but portrays the colour and details accurately.
Natural light can work well for achieving a soft and flattering look, however, if natural light is not available or consistent (as is all too common in the UK!), then proper lighting equipment such as LEDs will help you to make your content shine!
How to Use Lighting for Your Content
When setting up your shots, pay attention to the direction and intensity of the light, as well as how it is impacting your product. Try to position your subject facing the light source to avoid harsh shadows, and use diffusion such as shoot-through umbrellas or softboxes to help soften the light and reduce unflattering reflections.
Even for products such as makeup, using even a small light can go far to help represent the products better when in use, so a ringlight could be used to illuminate yourself or your content star.
The Godox LR180 Bi-Colour LED Ring Light
Lighting Equipment to Invest In
To take your photography and videography to the next level, consider investing in key lighting accessories such as LED or Fluorescent lighting, as well as softboxes, reflectors, backgrounds. LED and Fluorescent lighting is the best for creating multi-faceted social media content for your business as they're both constant lighting types, which mean you can use these for both photo and video content.
High-end camera equipment isn't always necessary either - some high-quality lighting with a smartphone can create professional-looking content, and can be great for creating quick Instagram and TikTok posts to help push your products toward a specific audience or to create casual content to a particular theme.
These tools will help you achieve a professional look and enhance the visual appeal of your content.
Lighting
Ringlights, as previously mentioned, are a great option for easy lighting for those featuring in the content, as well as for lighting products such as makeup, jewellery, nail polishes, clothing and more. Ringlights have the benefit of creating flattering circular catchlights in the eye which makes the eye look brighter, and most have the option included to mount your smartphone into the middle of the light, for steady, hands-free video recording. Because of this, ringlights are generally the go-to and best option for social media content creation with minimal equipment and minimal fuss.
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| Godox LR180 Bi-Colour LED Ring Light (Pink) | RICO140 Circle LED Ring Light | 70cm Foldable Cube LED Light Tent |
Alternatively, if you're looking to create high-quality, clean product images that can be used both on your website or selling platform, and on social media too, an LED light tent might be a good option. The 70cm model is especially handy for smaller products such as bags, stationery, and accessories, and can even be used for things like small plants! Light tents are great as a portable and compact lighting solution that offers surrounding and all-encompassing lighting, for if you're in a room with minimal natural lighting, or you need to completely overpower unflattering ambient light.
Fluorescent lighting or LEDs are great for larger-scale content or products, especially if it involves multiple people, or you want to light a scene or setup rather than just a small tabletop flatlay.
Fluorescent lighting has the benefit of being very budget-friendly, if a little lower powered and less flexible than LED lighting, and is great for a static content setup where you don't have to move the lighting much or set it up and down a lot. These lights come with softboxes, and have efficient daylight-balanced bulbs to replicate bright sunlight.
LED Lighting heads on the other hand are great if you're looking for something a little more adaptable. Some of these options can be controlled via bluetooth with the Godox app for example, and have bi-colour lighting settings which allow for warmer or cooler toned lighting options.
Both types of these lighting kits tend to come with softbox or umbrella modifier options, which help you to soften the light, reduce harsh reflections and create a more flattering effect on both products and skin. A good rule of thumb is that the larger the softbox, the wider the spread of light and the softer the light will be, so it depends what kind of content you're looking to shoot for your brand.
Backdrops
Eye-catching coloured backgrounds are a great way to add a pop of colour to your social media feed, and are also handy for creating a consistent style and theme, especially for customers viewing your Instagram profile grid for example. Coloured backgrounds can be picked based on your branding and/or product range to either match or complement it, and having a house-style of recognisable content on your profiles can be a great way for your followers to be able to pick your content out of a crowd.
Backgrounds can also be selected based on product theme, such as water or beach themed backgrounds for sunscreen products for holidays, meaning you need minimal editing to create an eye-catching snap.
Tabletop backgrounds are your best option for this, being small enough for most Instagrammable products that you want to push with your brand.
Smartphone and Light Stands
If you're not already using a ringlight with a smartphone bracket, it's probably worth investing in a separate stand to hold your phone to create your content with. Content shot with a steady hand will always look more professional than shaky and blurry content, so it's best to have a stand on hand to position your phone with.
This also helps a lot with ensuring your images and video is taken straight-on and isn't wonky or have a warped perspective. Pick from mini tabletop stands or larger floor stands if you're shooting larger products or full length shots of people.
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| Extendable Mini Tripod With Smartphone Bracket | Tilt Head Tripod Stand With Rotatable Smartphone Bracket | Universal Photography SmartPhone Tripod Light Stand Kit |
Ready? Set... Get Creating!
Practice using these photography tips and techniques and you can enhance the quality of your social media content and make a lasting impression on your customers and audience! Remember, high-quality visuals are key to capturing the attention of your followers and conveying your brand's message effectively. So get experimenting and see your
