Cam Model Lighting Tips (2023 Updated)

We here at JezebelCams.com have been very busy lately. This post is part of a series that offer tips to webcam models, whether they have just started their career or already have a lot of experience. Even people who are thinking about becoming a cam model will find these posts useful, regardless of their gender. In this article, we will be focusing on how to create the perfect lighting for your camshows.

During our research for these posts, we found that many cam models have questions about their lighting in their cam room, or cam space as you might call it. That’s why we thought it would be best to start with a post full of tips about webcam model lighting.

These posts are going to be jam packed with tips and ideas from our own knowledge, experienced cam models and other areas. For example, many gaming streamers can tell you how to get that perfect lighting for a professional look.

You don’t need to buy lights to get decent lighting

Let’s start with super basic lighting and work it up from there, shall we? What if you don’t want to buy extra lights or lamps? Perhaps you’re very new to camming and you just want to dip your toes in without spending any money? Have a look at our first tips that don’t require buying extra lights.

Stay out of direct sunlight

When doing shows in your cam space, make sure you don’t sit directly in the sunlight that comes from outside. This means you should place your setup (Desk, PC, camera) in a place where it only gets indirect sunlight. Direct sunlight changes throughout the day, so don’t forget to check the placement of your setup at different times. You could be sitting in indirect sunlight in the morning, but by the afternoon the sun could be shining into your eyes. Not only is this very annoying, it’s just a bad look on camera in general.

Diffuse the sunlight

If there is no way for you to stay out of the direct sunlight in your cam room, you can diffuse the light. This is the cheapest option you have after the tip above. All it requires is a screen to block the window. This could simply be a strip of white nylon they use with tents and softboxes. Cut out the nylon (or go to the fabric store) and place it in front of your window. This is going to cost you a couple of dollars at most and the result is great!

How to use lamps for more variety and control in cam room lighting

Perhaps you don’t mind spending a bit of cash to make yourself look good on camera. Let’s be honest, even if you use indirect lighting for your camming shows, you still rely on sunlight. There could be rainy days, sunny days, or even weeks with just cloudy weather. Also, using our previously mentioned tips really only gives you one kind of light: pretty cold.

Have you ever made a selfie in your living room and one in your bathroom in front of the mirror? How do they compare? It doesn’t have to mean that the bathroom selfie looks better, but you can see a difference for sure! This is because of the difference between sunlight and artificial light. When we use lamps, there is a whole range of different temperatures we can choose from. You can give your cam show a very warm look or white and cold, it’s up to you.

Have a look at this chart to get an idea of what to go for:

When you’re going to use lamps, keep a couple of things in mind right from the start:

• One lamp is not enough, you’re most likely going to use 3 different lamps to remove shadows and get that perfect look.
• Buy different lamps to increase the flexibility. A desk lamp that you can clip onto things gives you a huge range to play with, which is perfect in combination with a bigger lamp.
• Combine the tips that we give. If you don’t like the lighting your lamp gives you, either change the bulb or use paper to change the color to make it less harsh, don’t buy another lamp!

Lighting placement in your cam space is key

Now that you have a couple of lamps, where do you put them? You probably want to experiment with this for yourself, but to give you a baseline to start from, let me give you a few tips and examples.

A three-point lighting system is a great thing to start with, basically every professional streamer does this. It simply means you have 3 sources of light to eliminate shadows and gives you the look you’re going for. This means you can have 2 lights from the side and 1 from the top. However, it can also mean 2 lights from the side and 1 from the back.

These cam model lighting tips can (and should) be used regardless of how you use your cam room. Whether you’re sitting behind your desk, and the floor, or on your bed, you can always have a three-point system.

Other ideas and tips for cam room lighting

Now that I’ve shown you the basics, let’s get into the fun stuff. How do you make your room stand out? If everyone simply uses the three-point system with normal lights, it would be one dull-looking cam site! Take a look at our cam site’s homepage and see which rooms catch your eye the quickest: JezebelCams. You can stand out and make your room pop by simply changing the lighting in your room. No matter the cam show you give, you can have more visitors by doing a couple of things differently.

The trick is to make it look nice in combination with yourself and your other lighting.

1. Use LED strips to change the color of your cam room

One of the easiest ways to change the color of your cam room is to use LED strips. This might sound more difficult than a lamp, but it really isn’t! These LED strips have a sticky back tape, which means you can stick them anywhere you want. They also go into the same outlet as a lamp, so there should be no problem there either.

The trick is to make it look nice in combination with yourself and your other lighting. If your cam space is super bright, the effect of the LED strip diminishes and the color doesn’t stand out that much. If you turn your normal lamps off, the LED really pops, but your viewers might have a hard time seeing you.

The nice thing is that you can change the color of these LED strips whenever you want. You could have it purple on Friday, green on Saturday, and red on Sunday!

2. Use a disco light for extra fun

Another great way to play around with colored lights in your cam room is to use a disco light. This is even easier than LED strips because all you have to do is plug it in.

When positioning the disco light, it doesn’t always have to be in the center of the room. Sure, if you want to go for a nice even spread of colors, you should hang it from your ceiling right in the middle of your cam space.

However, if you put it in the corner of your room, you’ll notice that it gives a pretty cool effect. The further the light shines, the bigger the size of the colored dots. Of course, keep in mind that if the light needs to shine further, the color will be less vibrant.

All-in-all, a disco light is a nice touch to your cam room, although I would advise against using it every single stream.

3. A sign with a personal message (Bluetooth / Wifi)

This one is perfect for the cam model who likes to change things up with different parts in her stream. Perhaps you do different kind of streams on different days, and you want to make it clear to your viewers what your stream is about?

There are many signs available that light up with a different message. I’m not talking about the neon signs, which can only display one message. These are modern times! Nowadays, you can hang up a sign and simply change the message from your phone or your PC by connecting to it.

Are you going to start a private show soon? Simply display the text “Private show in 10 mins”. Perhaps you want to wish everyone a happy Halloween? The possibilities are endless! Just don’t forget to peek at the sign once in a while to make sure it still displays the text you want.

4. Give your moans another dimension with sound activated light

You’ve probably heard about these type of lights before. Lights that react to sound. The most famous one might be the clap activated light that goes on or off when you clap your hands (Or your ass). Well, technology has advanced quite a lot since then and there’s a whole variety available now.

You could add a light to your room that goes brighter the louder you are. These come in many different colors and sizes, so you can just have it in the corner of your cam room or right beside you. The louder you moan, the brighter the light. It’s a nice touch!

Another option is to have a LED volume display. This is a little more fancy, but the effect is quite nice. Think of it like a normal LED display, but now with a volume display on it. It’s a nice challenge to see which of your toys gets the loudest moans.

5. Show secret messages in your cam room with UV light

Our final cam model lighting tip is the use of a UV light or black light as some like to call it. If you want to show your viewers a hidden message sometimes, this is a great tool!

You could even go crazy and use the UV light on yourself in combination with crazy neon colors, although the room does need to be very dark for that! But who knows? Paint your fingers and your body in special ink, aim a UV light on yourself and go for a crazy show! I’m pretty sure it will attract a lot of visitors!

About that ink. What if you simply want to write a message on your wall but you don’t have special ink? Fear not! Laundry detergent lights up like crazy in UV light! Simply mix it with a little bit of water and write something on your wall. When it dries, you wont be able to see it without the use of your special lamp.

In conclusion

So there’s my webcam model lighting tips for you. As you can see, when you just start cam modelling, you don’t have to spend a lot of money on equipment! And even if you want to make your cam show look more professional, all you need it a few lights and good positioning.

I advise everyone to start simple and work your way up from there. Keep in mind that more equipment not only costs more, it also takes in a lot more space.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you should always check out how others are doing it. Have a look at our cam site’s homepage to get some ideas: JezebelCams.