Video Call Light

What video call light does

A screen showing a large flat bright area is a soft light source, which is why a second monitor or a tablet makes a usable fill light for video calls. This gives you control over the two things that matter: colour temperature in kelvin, so the light matches the others in the room, and brightness. It also offers ring and softbox shapes, which change the character of the light rather than just its amount.

How to use it

1. Put the screen in front of you and slightly above eye level, not to one side.
2. Set the warmth to match the other lights in the room. Use the preset list if you know what they are.
3. Turn your device brightness to maximum as well; the page cannot exceed it.
4. Go full screen, then adjust brightness here until your face is lit without being washed out.

About video call light

Why a screen works as a light at all

Softness in lighting is a matter of size relative to the subject. A large source wraps light around a face and produces gradual shadow edges; a small one produces hard edges and sharp shadows. A monitor held at arm's length is large relative to a head, which is why it flatters where a phone torch does not. It is the same principle as a photographer's softbox, which exists purely to turn a small bright bulb into a large dim panel.

Colour temperature, and why matching it matters

Kelvin describes whether light is warm or cool: a candle is around 2000K, a warm household bulb 2700K, tungsten studio light 3200K, midday daylight around 5600K, and an overcast sky 6500K. The number to match is whatever is already lighting the room. Two sources at different temperatures on one face is what makes video look wrong, because half the face reads orange and half blue and no automatic white balance can correct both. If daylight is coming through a window, set this near 5600K; under warm bulbs at night, drop it to 2700K.

Where to put it

Slightly above eye level and in front, angled down a little, is the position that works for almost everyone. Above puts shadows below the brows and nose where the eye expects them. Directly to one side produces a hard split down the face, and below produces the uplighting that reads as sinister for exactly that reason. If you have a window, use it as your main light and put the screen on the opposite side at lower brightness to lift the shadows rather than fighting it.

The ring shape and the catchlight

A ring light is a bright annulus with a dark centre, and the reason it is used for faces is the catchlight: the circular reflection it leaves in the eye, which makes a subject look alert and present rather than flat. The ring shape here reproduces that. The softbox shape is a large soft rectangle instead, which produces a broader, less distinctive light and is generally the better choice for anything that should not look staged.

The limits, honestly

A screen is a fairly dim light source compared with a real lamp. In a bright room it will do very little, and it works best at night or in a dim space where it can actually compete with what is already there. A white screen also emits a lot of blue, which is fine during the day and worth turning warm in the evening. And no amount of front light fixes a bright window behind you; move so the window is in front of you or to your side, which will improve a call more than any tool here.