How to choose a ring light

What a ring light is actually good at

A ring surrounds the lens, so light arrives at your face from every direction at once. That cancels the shadow under the chin and nose that makes people look tired, which is why beauty, tutorial and talking-head creators love them.

It also produces the circular catchlight in the eyes that reads, to most viewers, as 'professionally lit'.

When a ring light is the wrong choice

If you are filming products rather than faces, a ring is a liability. Anything glossy — a phone screen, a bottle, packaging film — will reflect a bright circle straight back at the camera, and there is no angle that removes it.

A flat panel gives you a shape you can control instead.

Size beats brightness

The single most useful number is the diameter. A larger ring is a larger light source relative to your face, and larger sources always produce softer light. A small, very bright ring held far away is harsher than a big, dim one held close.

This is why a 45cm ring at moderate power flatters better than a phone-clip ring at full brightness.

Battery or mains

If the light lives on a desk, buy a mains-powered one and never think about it again. Batteries are only worth their inconvenience if you shoot away from power.

For live selling in particular, a battery light is a risk: nothing looks worse than a stream where the light visibly fades in the last twenty minutes.

The short version

• Filming your face, from a fixed spot → large mains ring light
• Filming products → panel, not a ring
• Filming away from home → battery panel or a selfie stick with built-in lights
• Tight budget, mostly selfies → dual-LED selfie stick covers light and framing together