If you are a videography nerd like me, you have probably seen the video setups that Youtubers have at their homes.

Expensive cameras, multiple lighting fixtures that could light a Hollywood set, and carefully crafted backdrops.

To get impressive results, you don’t have to be a seasoned pro. In this article, we’ll discover how you can build a professional studio setup at home.

But let’s answer one question first…

Why do you need a home studio setup?

Content creation

Many people want to produce high-quality videos for their online channels. Having a video studio at home makes it easy to create content without the need to rent out studio spaces.

Remote work

With more people working from home than ever before, having a video studio at home can make remote work more efficient. If you are working remote and work on video content, like tutorial videos or webinars, a studio setup at home makes a lot of sense.

It can even double as video conferencing and virtual meetings space, so you can impress your co-workers.

Cost-effective

Building a video studio at home can be a cost-effective alternative to renting out a space or hiring a professional studio for each project. Your studio setup doesn’t have to be the fanciest one to get you good results.

Convenience

Most of all, having a video studio at home allows for flexibility and convenience, as you can easily record videos without needing to travel to a separate location.

Even better if you don’t need to disassemble your setup each time after filming. Then your setup is always ready to go, and there are little obstacles to create that content.

Note! All these same tips apply to any studio space, not just one at your home. Use the same information to build a studio setup at your office too!

What do you need for your home studio setup?

Your home studio setup can be a dedicated room or garage, or you can have a more portable setup that you can put up and take down easily whenever you need it.

Let’s go through the main components of video setups:

1. Space: You need a space to setup your home studio.
2. Lighting: You can use natural light or artificial lights, but you need some.
3. Background: What do you want your video background to show?
4. Composition: How you set up your lights and camera
5. Camera: A phone, webcam, DSLR or a cinema camera. Anything goes!

Let’s go through each in more detail!

Finding your studio space

The amount of space you need comes down to what you are filming. If you are making fitness videos, you might need more space than for drawing tutorial videos. You will need some space to setup and control lights.

Your studio space should be quiet, and free of any external noise or echoes that can negatively affect the sound quality of your videos. Consider soundproofing your space if necessary.

If you have a lot of echo in your videos, add some curtains or carpets to the room. Soft objects reduce the echo.

It also makes sense to have power outlets in the room, as you will probably need to power lights or cameras somehow.

Lighting your home studio

Lighting has probably the biggest impact on the look of your videos. When lighting your studio setup, you have multiple options to go with.

But before we go through the options, here’s one concept you should understand: soft vs hard light.

Usually soft light is desired, as it’s flattering for human skin.

Soft light means having a large light source. With a soft light, the light emits from a large surface, and it doesn’t create harsh shadows like hard light (think bare light bulbs or sun).

Of course, using soft or hard light is also a stylistic choice, but we’ll focus on achieving soft lighting setups in this article.

To achieve soft light, you have five options:

1. Natural light
2. Softbox lights
3. LED lights
4. Ring light
5. House lights

Let's go through each one!

Natural light

Natural light can be an excellent choice for video production, especially if you have large windows with diffused light.

Soft natural light can create a pleasing, natural look that's hard to replicate with artificial light.

However, natural light can be unpredictable and change throughout the day, so you'll need to pay close attention to the time of day and adjust your setup accordingly.

Softbox lights

Softbox lights are a popular choice for video production because they provide even, diffused light that can be adjusted to create the desired mood or effect.

Softbox lights usually come with a bulb and a rectangle softbox. These are good starter lights, but are not the brightest lights around.

Softbox lights are also relatively easy to set up and can be used to create a variety of lighting setups. You can get different kinds of soft box studio kits for cheap on Amazon, for example this 75$ set.

LED lights

The LED technology has taken massive leaps in the last years, and using LED lights is the way to go for most production companies these days.

Both LED panel lights and COB (Chip on board) LED lights are a versatile and relatively cost-effective choice for home studio setups.

Some things to note about LED lights:

• Look for "bowens mount" LED lights. You can attach a variety of different soft boxes and fresnel lenses on these lights.
• When choosing a LED light, you need to choose how bright you want your light to be (wattage). Usually the more watts (eg. 300W), the more light output.
• If you want to adjust color temperature (cold or warm tinted light), look for "bi-color".
• If you need full color control, get an RGB light that can do any color you need.

Ring lights

Ring lights are circular lights that provide even, diffused light that's especially well-suited for close-up shots.

They're often used in beauty and makeup videos, but can also be used for other types of videos where a soft, flattering light is desired.

House lights

You can also use your normal house lights to light your video setup. These might not be the highest quality lights, but they work in a pinch. Color accuracy and light quality is a topic we won’t go deeper here.

When setting up your home studio lighting, it's important to experiment with different options to find the setup that works best for your needs. You may also want to consider purchasing lighting stands, diffusers, or other accessories to help you achieve the desired effect.

Need help with finding the right lights to use? Book a free consultation call and let us help.

What to put on the background?

In the frame of your video, you will usually have a person (you?) and something behind them.

The background is a way to express context. If you are doing videos for your company from home, you might want to have a neutral background instead of showing your home.

But often the realistic environment will work just fine.

To make a background for your studio setup, you again have some options.

Backdrop

This is a way to achieve simple, clean look for your videos.

Paper backdrops are rolls of paper that come in any colors you would need.

Protip: If you have a RGB light, you can easily change the color of your backdrop or wall.

Set

You can build a nicely arrange set with shelves, plants and furniture for example. If you have eye for interior design, go wild and create your dream set!

Just a room

Of course, you can simply use whatever you naturally have in front of the camera, no need to get fancy. (I would however pick up the dirty laundry and organize a little bit for more professional look.)

Look around your home and find an interesting angle to film in. You can film flat against a wall or towards a corner to create more depth in the image.

Camera

I know. Cameras are cool and all that.

But camera equipment is last on the list of gear on purpose.

A good home studio setup can be used with any camera, and with good lighting you can achieve beautiful results even with low resolution webcams.

So our tip for camera is to use the best one you have around. Your phone probably has a decent camera to start with, but if you have a DSLR or a camcorder, use what you have.

You probably also need a tripod to position your camera for your videos.

Bringing the composition together

Now you have your lights, background and camera. How do we set everything up to build our studio?

Take a look at few examples of lighting setups. Pick a favorite, and lets go from there.

First, let’s set up our key light. Key light is our main light that is used to light the person on camera. Usually we want the large, soft light, coming from about 45-degree angle towards the face of the person on camera. This way we still have some shadows on the face that create shape.

Second, we might want to add a hair light. This is a light that shines towards the back of the head. It creates nice separation from the background, giving hair a nice rim lighting.

If the composition feels a bit dark on the shadow side of face, consider adding a bounce or a fill light. A bounce is simply anything white and flat that can be used to bounce some of the key light to the opposite side of face. You can also use another light, but set it to a lower brightness level than the primary key light, to keep some of the shadows on the face.

Consider the overall light level in your studio space. Lighting is all about the balance. You shouldn’t necessarily crank out the key light to max brightness. Start with something lower, and tune it until your background and key light work in balance. This is again a stylistic choice you have to make.

Looking for lighting inspiration? Browse popular setups here.

Let’s get to work

Building out your home studio setup is a fun process. It’s a process of trial and error, but once you reach an image you like, you will notice it.

Once you have setup everything up, you can get to work, and press record!