Lighting Design That Changed the Game for This Fitness Creator

When fitness expert Caroline Packard (Doctor of Physical Therapy specializing in pelvic floor dysfunction) decided to upgrade her fitness YouTube studio for Connect Pelvic Floor Fitness, she knew exactly what she didn't want—flat, uninspired lighting. Our goal was clear: create vibrant, professional lighting that added depth, contrast, and energy to her videos.

Working closely with Caroline, we transformed her new studio into a visually engaging space designed to captivate her audience and elevate her brand. Here's a quick look at our step-by-step process.

Assessing the Original Studio Lighting

Images via: Caroline Packard DPT YouTube

Caroline’s previous studio setup had several visual challenges beyond lighting, including set design and camera angles. The lighting felt uniformly flat due to excessive soft overhead lighting that evenly filled the entire room, leaving no defined areas of shadow to create contrast and depth. Additionally, filming directly against a flat wall limited camera angles and further contributed to the absence of visual depth. Lastly, the overall color palette of the space lacked the necessary contrast to highlight Caroline and her exercises effectively.

Understanding Caroline’s vision, we knew she desired a visually dynamic space that would complement her expertise in pelvic floor fitness by drawing viewers into engaging, professional-quality content. Caroline specifically wanted lighting that would create depth and highlight the rich visual contrasts, ultimately enhancing her brand identity and viewer experience.

Planning the New Lighting Setup

To ensure the new lighting design met Caroline’s specific vision, we first immersed ourselves in numerous fitness videos to clearly understand what she was aiming to accomplish. We recognized the importance of having soft overhead lighting—but carefully moderated to avoid excessive brightness. Our lighting plan incorporated skirted overhead panel lights and softboxes for gentle, even illumination. To further enhance cinematic visual interest, we integrated substantial backlighting using LED light strips and tube lights, strategically placed to accentuate depth and texture.

Caroline partnered with a studio designer to conceptualize the aesthetic theme and collaborated with a contractor for the actual construction of the studio space. Once construction was complete, we stepped in to implement the planned lighting solutions. Leveraging some of the lighting equipment from Caroline’s previous studio, we created a comprehensive list of additional lights tailored specifically to the new space. Utilizing CAD designs provided by the production designer, we strategically mapped out a detailed lighting design, ensuring every aspect of the studio worked harmoniously together.

Lighting A Fitness Studio For Video

Controlling the Natural Light

Our first step in setting up the studio lighting was blacking out the entire space to eliminate natural daylight, preventing inconsistencies during filming sessions. This meant covering the front door and windows completely. We also turned off ceiling light bulbs that would conflict with our lighting design.

Positioning for Optimal Filming

Next, we identified key filming areas to strategically position our lights. Caroline’s setup involved a two-camera system shooting into opposite corners, allowing for dynamic angles and visual depth.

Selecting and Arranging the Lights

Embedded LED light strips were installed into the walls for background light. These lights would help create a rim light on our talent, to separate them from the background. However, due to their potential flickering when dimmed, we balanced the rest of the studio lights against these strips at full brightness.

Four Aputure F22x bi-color lights with diffusion were positioned overhead, skirted to prevent unwanted bounce off the walls, creating soft light with richer shadows and depth at a consistent 5000k color temperature, which is slightly warmer than a typical daylight scene. We did not use any warm lights, and none of the lights in our setup created hard light or harsh lighting since it was all diffused light.

Additional overhead Aputure F21x lights were placed strategically on the right side to serve as key light and backlights. An Aputure 200d with a softbox was positioned toward the front-right area, ensuring Caroline was well-lit when stepping closer to the camera. Another F22x overhead fixture was added specifically above the pull-up bars, effectively illuminating that dedicated exercise area.

To enhance cinematic appeal further, Aputure T4C tube lights were mounted vertically in the main studio corners for dramatic backlighting. Finally, additional LED light strips were placed beneath the weight racks to help these key elements visually pop from the background, enhancing the overall studio depth and dimension. Any fill light on our talent would be from the ambient bounced light from the reflective surfaces around the studio.

All overhead lighting was secured with clamps as well as safety cables. We decided to go the route with Aputure's more budget-friendly line, Amaran, because the lights in this scenario would always stay put, never be outdoors in harsh weather conditions, and they provide high color accuracy.

Essentially, the light sources were:

-5 Aputure Amaran F22x w/ Diffusion + Skirts

-2 Aputure Amaran F21x w/ Diffusion + Grid

-2 Aputure Amaran T4C Tube Lights

-1 Aputure Amaran 200D w/ Softbox + Grid

-LED Light Strips

Testing and Fine-Tuning the Setup

To ensure everything was perfect, we conducted a dedicated mock shoot day with Caroline and the talent in position, mimicking a typical filming scenario. Our initial focus was dialing in camera settings optimal for quick-turnaround edits, opting for a Wide DR Rec709 profile at 23.97 FPS, 1/50 shutter speed, ISO 200, and an aperture around F4 for a sharper image. This aperture choice required boosting the lighting levels, which we adjusted seamlessly using the Sidus Link App connected to our Amaran lights via iPhone.

We balanced all lights meticulously, ensuring even illumination and correct exposure of Caroline and the talent. We ran through several workout sequences, making final tweaks to guarantee optimal lighting placement and quality. With these final adjustments complete, Caroline’s new studio lighting setup was ready for action, promising consistent and visually compelling videos.

This whole setup still used the principles of a standard three-point lighting setup that you would use for cinematic lighting. We had overhead/back lights, key lights, and the fill side was just ambient bounce light, which created a nice shadow on that side. For ease of use, every light was set to studio mode, which meant that a flip of a light switch would turn all of the lights.

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Results: A Fitness YouTube Studio Transformed

The results were immediate and visually striking. Caroline’s new studio now featured richer imagery, heightened contrast, and enhanced depth, marking a significant upgrade compared to her original setup. Caroline herself expressed immense satisfaction, highlighting the tangible improvements in her content quality.

In her 5-star Google review, Caroline shared: "I can't say enough great things about Brady and his production company! He has helped me twice now with setting up professional studio lighting, and each time, he has gone above and beyond. From consulting on the best lighting setup and equipment to fine-tuning every detail once everything was in place, his expertise made all the difference."

Caroline further noted, "Brady is incredibly knowledgeable, professional, and genuinely passionate about getting the best results. He took the time to make sure the setup was exactly what I needed, offering insights that improved not just the lighting but the overall quality of my content. His attention to detail and willingness to go the extra mile made the entire process seamless and stress-free. If you need top-tier lighting and production expertise, Brady is the person to call. Highly recommend!"

Ready to Elevate Your Videos?

If you're looking to enhance your YouTube studio or professional video productions, Visionaery Productions is here to make your visuals stand out. Contact us today to learn how we can transform your space and bring your vision to life with exceptional lighting design and production expertise!

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