Best way to reduce the eyes fatigue and dry eyes caused by the lighting for video calls

Editor by tony jing 01/04/2022

This article is about the use of use ring lighting for video calls, which can hurt your eyes in various ways such as visual fatigue, dry eyes and other related phenomena. The purpose of this article is to help users solve this problem.

What causes eye fatigue and dry eyes?

The main reason is prolonged exposure of the eyes to light when using lighting for video calls, which causes the muscles of your eyes to automatically contract and the pupils become smaller causing a reduction in light intake. When the muscles are tense for a long time, the eyes become fatigued. Eye muscle fatigue causes a drop in the secretion of eye fluid, resulting in dry eyes.

This article explores three aspects to reduce this visual fatigue and dry eyes:

the first is from the perspective of lighting for video calls
the second is the quality of lighting for video calls
the third, movement

Is it possible completely to solve the problem of visual fatigue? This is not possible; it can only be reduced.

First off, from the perspective of light, when you have only one lighting for video calls placed directly in front of you, then the light enters the eyes directly through the pupil. This is the most important aspect, as it is most likely to produce eye fatigue.

So we still have to solve the problem of getting less light through the pupil from the point of view of light. How do we solve this problem? The first solution entails switching to one-point lighting.

Solution 1 of eye fatigue caused by lighting for video calls

So I suggest you use this kind of lighting for video calls which is 45 degrees diagonally above. The disadvantage of this light is that it will make your nose look very straight, your face and neck will be elongated. If you are a very slim person, it will make you a little distorted in the camera. But if you are fat, that’s good; it will make you look a little you’ve lost some pounds. This is our solution in the case of a single lamp, even if you’re on a tight budget and have only one lamp.

directly above at an angle of 45 degrees directly above at an angle of 45 degrees effect

There is actually a better way to do this with two-point lighting. The characteristic of two-point lighting is that one is the main light and the other is the auxiliary light. The main light is positioned 45 degrees to the left, while the secondary light placed 45 degrees to the right of the subject, both towards the face, the height and face flush. In this method, the lighting for video calls is not focused directly into the eyes. The biggest benefit of two-point lighting is that it creates the illusion of a three-dimensional subject, with a strong beauty effect.

Two -points lighting

Therefore, from a light perspective, if you’re using a single lighting for video calls, it should be positioned 45 degrees diagonally in front of you. if you are using two light sources, then use two-point lighting. Two-point lighting is better than one-point lighting, because the latter causes distortion inside the camera.

directly above at an angle of 45 degrees effect two-points lighting effect

Solution 2 of eye fatigue caused by lighting for video calls

The second aspect is the quality of lighting for video calls. The most comfortable light color temperature is from 4000K to 4600K. The human eyes are not easily fatigued in this section, so we have to choose a lighting color temperature in the 4000K to 4600K range.

Most of the available ring lighting for video calls use blue chips to excite yellow phosphors to form white light, so there is a lot of blue light inside. If you are running a live broadcast or a long video, I suggest you use full-spectrum LEDs. The benefit of a full spectrum LED substantially reduces blue light and is closer to sunlight. “Full spectrum” refers to the light emitted by the lamp, whose spectrum is close to the solar spectrum, especially in the visible light part. The proportion of various wavelength components is similar to that of sunlight, and the CRI of the light is close to the CRI of sunlight. Full-spectrum LEDs are now more expensive, so the cost of lighting is higher, but if you have a long video time, or you are doing live broadcasts, I suggest that you still use full-spectrum LEDs.

Solution 3 of eye fatigue caused by lighting for video calls

The last method to relieve eye fatigue involves movement. Regular outdoor sports can effectively regulate eye fatigue of both eyes. Ball sports like badminton, tennis, basketball that require the eyes to chase the target, can enhance ciliary muscle relaxation and contraction. Promote eye metabolism and relieve visual fatigue.

conclusion

In summary, to reduce eye fatigue, the first thing is to change the angle of light. If it is one-point lighting for video calls, it should be illuminated 45-degree diagonally from the top in front of you, and use two-point lighting for double light source. In terms of light quality, full-spectrum led lighting for video calls is recommended. The third method consists of exercising more: playing tennis, badminton, basketball and other sports etc.

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