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Video Production

How to Light Someone Wearing Glasses

If you wear glasses it can be difficult to avoid reflections with a standard lighting setup.

In this article, I’ll explain how you can adapt lighting positions to eliminate reflections in your glasses. Check out the video above for a real-time visual demonstration.

Using LED Panels

Usually, I position my lights on either side of the camera as close to the lens as possible to avoid shadows from the nose and to create an even look across the face. But this positioning can cause obvious reflections in glasses because the lights are too front-on.

You can fix this by moving the lights off to the side and raising them up so the reflection is being cast in a downward diagonal instead of straight on. There will still be reflection if you look at the person from a different angle the camera can’t see it anymore.

Working with a Ring Light

Normally, you would position your camera to shoot straight through the middle of your ring light, but that is not going to work for someone wearing glasses.

You can fix this by moving your ring light off to one side, raising it up, and angling it down slightly as we would do with other LEDs.

Depending on the shape and the reflection level of your glasses you may not be able to eliminate reflection entirely as your head moves around when you talk, but as long as people can see your eyes when you look straight at the camera, you’re shot is ready to go.

I hope this helps you eliminate reflections from your glasses in your next video.

Read on for how to choose an outfit to wear on camera.

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