Front, Back, and Overhead Lighting Tips
One lighting situation a lot of people encounter when they start off shooting indoors is the presence of overhead lighting in the room.
This is usually just the room lights and very often you will see some kind of cardinal rule about this.
That rule is that lights above the subject will make the subject look harsh and ugly so never do it.
Like most things when it comes to video and lighting, the rule isn’t actually a hard a fast rule.
For example if that overhead lighting is positioned slightly in front of the subject and it is diffused, then it can look very good.
In fact the top half of a clamshell lighting setup is exactly this and clamshell is one of the classic “beauty shot” setups.
So in light of that (see what I did there?), check out this tutorial on positioning lights to get a better understanding of how lighting position can affect your outcomes.
Stop the Excuses and Start Making Your YouTube Videos Now!
This is a welcome return to YouTube and pretty much the world from Kevin – Basic Filmmaker who has been absent for quite some time now.
Long story short Kevin suffered some pretty serious health issues a year or so back and was by all accounts in a pretty bad way.
However he has recently returned and seems to be fully recovered and ready to make trouble again!
Here’s his latest “kick in the butt” video for anyone procrastinating about making videos!
PowerDirector For YouTube Content…Here’s Why
Since returning to YouTube Maliek from PowerDirector University has restarted his weekly meetups with other PowerDirector users.
If you use PowerDirector then I would strongly advise you to check out his weekly live streams because they are always full of great info.
This week as usual he covers a bunch of points regarding PowerDirector with particular reference to YouTube video creation..
5 Simple Text Animations
OK I will be the first to admit that my strength in video editing is purely from a technical or mechanical point of view.
When it comes to design aesthetics I fall in a heap pretty fast.
I have all the creativity and creative style of a potato in most cases so to compensate for that… I cheat!
I always refer to videos like the one below and just plain copy them!
So when a client says he likes those titles I say great, I am glad you like them.
What I should say is sure, I stole them just for you!
So here are some titling ideas for you to rip off along with me!
Master Text in Filmora: Create Stunning Titles, 3D Text & More
Well it seems to be all about titles this week so here’s one from the folks at Filmora.
This is another deep dive into the titling module and in reality is a very thorough walk-through of how to access it and all of the settings within.
There are a lot of controls, assets and features inside there so take your time and maybe work up a few examples for yourself as you go.
Why Your Videos Look Amateur (and how to fix it)
I guess the best way to describe this video below is as a “deep dive” critique video given to more advanced students.
Basically it is the owner of Full Time Filmmaker assessing some of the work his students and community members have submitted for review.
To me the value is not so much in the purely technical aspects as far as cameras and file types go.
The real value is in the identification of little details of each project that can take a reasonably good video up to something exceptional.
10 YouTube Settings That’ll Blow Up Your Channel in 2025
Something a little different from Jacky this week who I usually look to for Filmora tutorials.
Obviously if I know about Jacky from YouTube to have actually found his tutorials, he must know a little about running a YouTube channel!
So this week he is not going into anything about Filmora.
Instead he is going through some of the basic and essential settings you need to look at when uploading videos and running a channel.
The good thing about this video is that he gives a pretty good explanation as to how each setting or feature affect the results you can expect.
Create Cinematic Animated Intro Titles – DaVinci Resolve
OK so grab yourself a beverage of choice and buckle in for this one!
This is a pretty deep dive into some of the more advanced things you can do inside DaVinci Resolve with titles.
Bear in mind that the whole “buckling in” thing is not because this is particularly complicated or daunting!
But given that the video is 30 minutes long I think you get the picture.
3D in Fusion – The Ultimate Beginners Guide
A quite advanced tutorial this week from Casey Faris in the Fusion Page of DaVinci Resolve.
As you would expect DaVinci is absolutely state of the art for when it comes to working in 3D.
However that whole “state of the art” status means that Fusion has a space shuttle’s worth of knobs and dials and controls and heaven know what else to deal with!
So in this video Casey takes it back to basics just to get you started.
Original post The Friday Roundup – Overhead Lighting and YouTube Tips
