How to set up the best home office lighting for video calls

If you have a home office built for video-conferencing and you’re looking to light it, you’ve found the right guide! Here at Gantri, we’re dedicated to creating sustainable lighting for the modern home. 

Be sure to check out our guide to the basics of home office lighting if you’re just getting started. In this guide, we’ll focus on the benefits and challenges of different lighting techniques designed for video conferencing - and how you can create the best home office lighting for video calls. 

What type of lighting is best for video calls? 

There’s no single best lighting setup for video calls, but there are key principles that will help improve your video call lighting. 

As you craft your video conference lighting, aim to prioritize including: 

• Diffuse light (to avoid harsh glare or shadow)
• Lights from multiple sources (such as 2 or 3-point lighting)

And avoid including: 

• Direct overhead lighting 
• Bright task lighting
• Lights immediately in front of (or behind) your computer screen

If you’re interested in learning how to get started lighting your home office, check out our guide to home office lighting design. 

The best lighting for home office video conferencing

There are a variety of lighting types that you can use to create the best lighting for taking video calls from home. As you light your home office, aim to include a mixture of these lighting options for the best home office video conferencing setup.

Natural lighting

Natural lighting can be an excellent option for video conferencing, offering clear diffuse light that creates a natural, well-lit appearance on your video calls. 

Depending on where your windows are located, however, you may need to be mindful of the sun at sunrise or sunset – too much natural light can overblow the sensors of your web camera, making your image near-impossible to view. With that being said, curtains or shades can easily alleviate this issue, and natural lighting will remain one of the best ambient light sources for any home office.

Artificial ambient lighting

Most rooms will need artificial ambient lighting to boost the natural lighting they have available, and this is especially true for a home office. Focused tasks require more light and, unfortunately, the work day can stretch far beyond daylight hours – especially in winter. 

Overhead lighting can be useful in many spaces, but this isn’t the best setup for a home office in which you’re taking video calls. These overhead lights can be hard to adjust and depending on their positioning can create exaggerated shadows. Consider using ambient lighting such as floor or wall lights to create a more nuanced lighting setup for your video calls. Home office lighting doesn’t need to sacrifice aesthetics in favor of pure functionality, and an elegant floor light is a great addition to any home office. 

Desk or task lighting 

Home office task lighting is a must-have for those high-detail tasks. However, it can also help to create a more balanced lighting setup for video calls. 

Pairing a larger ambient light with a desk lamp or clamp light can easily make a two or three-point lighting setup possible. Popularized by visual mediums such as film and photography, these lighting setups involve lighting a subject with a “key light” that directly lights the subject (in this instance, your image on the video call). A second “fill light” is then used to fill in any darker spots or shadows that the key light misses. Three-point lighting may also add a “backlight” – though this is usually not necessary for a simple video conferencing setup! 

Adding task lighting to your main light creates a similar effect, helping to balance out the light on your video call and remove any excess shadows or dark spots. 

Ring lighting 

Some web camera setups can include a ring light, a circular light placed directly around the camera’s lens. Ring lights are frequently used by photographers and online bloggers, especially those who create makeup content or use lots of close-ups. A ring light brightly and evenly lights the camera subject’s face. Almost all continuous ring lights use bright LEDs, making them viable lower-cost alternatives for enhancing your web camera setup. They’re quite energy-efficient, too!

How to create the best home office video conferencing setup

Now with all of that in mind, you might already be brainstorming ways you can implement these lighting techniques into your home office setup. We’re here to help get that creativity flowing and recommend some amazing modern lighting solutions from Gantri’s product catalog. Every light mentioned here is manufactured in Gantri’s facilities in Los Angeles using eco-friendly polymer materials and is a stylish, sustainable addition to your home office. 

Step 1: Assess your current home office lighting 

Before you make any drastic changes to your home office design, take a moment to assess your current lighting setup. 

Is there a large window that gets a lot of sunlight? Any particularly dark corners? Does the space feature overhead lighting? Figure out what natural and artificial lighting you already have at your disposal to get started. Is the ambient light of the room warm or cold? Too soft or too bright? If you have any floor lights or desk lamps, do they fit in your limited space? Are your options as energy-efficient as you’d like, or are you looking to upgrade? Do your bulbs have fluctuations or flickering, and how do they appear on camera? All of these questions are good to begin when designing your home office. 

Once you’ve taken inventory of your existing setup, you’re ready to start experimenting.

Step 2: Experiment with your lighting  

One of the best ways to work out optimal video call lighting for your space is by doing a test call. Your video conference software should be able to test your camera setup, so you can experiment with your lighting without the pressure of a live call. 

Try out different lighting positions, intensities, and angles. Experiment with any blinds or curtains. Get a feel for what works in your home office and what doesn’t. If something looks wrong, you’ll be able to see where in your office the lighting issue is coming from and influence or eliminate it directly. Crucially, don’t wait until that important video call is upon you to figure out your lighting. 

Step 3: Choose new lighting wisely 

If you want to love your home office space, the first step is to find lights you’ll love, too! Here are some recommendations from a few of Gantri’s unique designer products:

The Noah Floor Light is designed by Filippo Mambretti in Switzerland and manufactured by Gantri in Los Angeles. This dimmable floor lamp offers soothing ambient warmth and a bright, radiant focal point making it perfect for handling double-duty lighting needs. Like all Gantri lighting solutions, the museum-quality LEDs offer consistent and beautiful light all day long. A hand-crafted sloping diffusion makes this light perfect for long working hours and the daily video conference!

Consider pairing the Noah Floor Light with the Zen Table Light, designed by Cozyleigh Studios in New York. This paper-lantern-inspired design is both beautiful and available in both a medium and compact build size, making it a perfect choice for any desk setup with limited space. A translucent blend diffusion shade crafted from eco-friendly materials makes this lamp perfect as a filling lamp for making your desk a glowing haven for any weather and time.

Each of these lights is designed with Gantri’s quality-first mindset, with eco-friendly materials and manufacturing techniques. Any product you choose should be an investment for your hard-earned purchase, and Gantri’s lights are designed to last a lifetime without sacrificing utility, quality, or sustainability.

Step 4: Position your video conference lighting 

Try setting up a basic two-point lighting setup and see what works and what doesn’t. If you run into problems with a spot of light interfering with the image, you’ll likely need to find its source. Here are some good pointers:

Web cameras tend to not have the greatest contrast and blooming settings. If your background is too bright, leaving your face too dark, your problem is likely that the light behind you is blowing out your camera’s sensors. You should find the source and either remove it or lower its intensity. If your face is likely overblown and too bright, there may be a light too close or shining too brightly on your face. You’ll likely notice that your background will darken harshly and may even create imaging artifacts.

Check out another one of our guides if you’d like to see more tips about creating great home office lighting setups for computer work!

The perfect video conference lighting, every time

Whatever setup you choose, be proud of the creativity and love you put into making your home office setup the very best it can be. By choosing Gantri, you’re supporting creators of eco-friendly and high-quality lighting solutions. Check out more guides, products, and behind-the-scenes designer stories today at Gantri.