How to make a highlight. Ultimate Guide: How to Create Custom Instagram Highlights Covers in 2024

How do Instagram Story Highlights work. What are the best practices for creating custom Highlights covers. How can brands leverage Highlights for marketing. Why are Instagram Highlights important for your social media strategy.

Understanding Instagram Story Highlights: A Game-Changer for Social Media Strategy

In the ever-evolving landscape of social media marketing, Instagram Story Highlights have emerged as a powerful tool for brands and individuals alike. Introduced in December 2017, this feature has revolutionized how users showcase their content and engage with their audience. But what exactly are Instagram Story Highlights, and how can you make the most of them?

What Are Instagram Story Highlights?

Instagram Story Highlights are curated collections of Instagram Stories that users can permanently display on their profiles. Unlike regular Stories that disappear after 24 hours, Highlights allow you to preserve and showcase your best content indefinitely. These collections appear as circular icons just below your bio, providing visitors with easy access to your featured content.

Why Are Instagram Story Highlights Important?

Instagram Story Highlights offer several benefits for both personal and business accounts:

• Extend the lifespan of your Stories
• Showcase your brand’s personality and values
• Organize content into themed collections
• Provide quick access to important information
• Improve profile aesthetics and user experience

Creating and Managing Your Instagram Story Highlights

Now that we understand the importance of Highlights, let’s dive into how to create and manage them effectively.

How to Create an Instagram Story Highlight

1. Go to your Instagram profile
2. Tap the “New” button under the Highlights section
3. Select the Stories you want to include
4. Choose a cover image and name for your Highlight
5. Tap “Add” to publish your new Highlight

Is there a limit to how many Highlights you can create? No, Instagram allows you to create unlimited Highlight collections. However, each Highlight can contain up to 100 Stories.

Managing Your Highlights

To keep your Highlights fresh and relevant, you can easily edit them by following these steps:

• Tap and hold the Highlight you want to edit
• Select “Edit Highlight” from the menu
• Add or remove Stories, change the cover, or edit the name
• Tap “Done” to save your changes

Designing Custom Instagram Highlights Covers: Tips and Tricks

Custom Highlights covers can significantly enhance your profile’s visual appeal and brand consistency. Here’s how to create eye-catching covers that will make your profile stand out.

Choosing the Right Design Elements

When designing your Highlights covers, consider the following elements:

• Color scheme: Use colors that align with your brand identity
• Icons or symbols: Incorporate simple, recognizable icons that represent each Highlight’s theme
• Typography: Select fonts that are easy to read and match your brand style
• Consistency: Maintain a cohesive look across all your Highlight covers

Tools for Creating Custom Highlights Covers

Several design tools can help you create professional-looking Highlights covers:

• Canva: Offers pre-made templates and easy-to-use design features
• Adobe Spark: Provides customizable templates and a user-friendly interface
• Over: Allows for easy text overlay and image manipulation on mobile devices
• Unfold: Offers stylish templates specifically designed for Instagram Stories and Highlights

Leveraging Instagram Story Highlights for Brand Marketing

Instagram Story Highlights offer unique opportunities for brands to showcase their products, services, and values. Here are some effective ways to use Highlights in your marketing strategy:

Showcase Products or Services

Create Highlights that feature your best-selling products or most popular services. Use engaging visuals and concise descriptions to give viewers a quick overview of what you offer.

Share Customer Testimonials

Dedicate a Highlight to customer reviews and testimonials. This social proof can help build trust and credibility with potential customers.

Highlight Brand Values and Culture

Use Highlights to showcase your company culture, behind-the-scenes content, or initiatives that align with your brand values. This helps humanize your brand and connect with your audience on a deeper level.

Provide Educational Content

Create Highlights that offer tips, tutorials, or industry insights related to your niche. This positions your brand as an authority and provides value to your followers.

Best Practices for Optimizing Your Instagram Story Highlights

To maximize the impact of your Instagram Story Highlights, consider implementing these best practices:

Organize Content Strategically

Group related content together in a logical manner. This makes it easier for viewers to find the information they’re looking for quickly.

Update Regularly

Keep your Highlights fresh by adding new Stories and removing outdated content. This ensures that your profile always reflects your current offerings and brand messaging.

Use Clear and Descriptive Names

Choose Highlight names that clearly indicate what viewers can expect to find in each collection. This improves navigation and user experience.

Analyze Performance

Use Instagram Insights to track the performance of your Highlights. Pay attention to which collections receive the most views and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Common Mistakes to Avoid with Instagram Story Highlights

While Instagram Story Highlights can be a powerful tool, there are some common pitfalls to watch out for:

Overloading Your Profile

Having too many Highlights can overwhelm visitors to your profile. Focus on quality over quantity, and prioritize the most important content.

Neglecting Cover Design

Poorly designed or inconsistent Highlights covers can detract from your profile’s overall aesthetic. Invest time in creating visually appealing and cohesive covers.

Failing to Update Content

Outdated Highlights can give the impression that your brand is inactive or irrelevant. Regularly review and refresh your Highlights to ensure they remain current and engaging.

Ignoring Mobile Optimization

Remember that most users will view your Highlights on mobile devices. Ensure that your cover designs and content are optimized for small screens.

The Future of Instagram Story Highlights: Trends and Predictions

As Instagram continues to evolve, we can expect to see new developments in the realm of Story Highlights. Here are some potential trends to watch for:

Enhanced Interactivity

Future updates may introduce more interactive elements within Highlights, such as clickable links or shoppable products, making them even more valuable for businesses.

Integration with Other Features

We might see closer integration between Highlights and other Instagram features, such as Reels or IGTV, allowing for more diverse content curation.

Advanced Analytics

Instagram may offer more detailed insights specifically for Highlights, helping users better understand how this feature contributes to their overall engagement and reach.

AI-Powered Customization

Artificial intelligence could play a role in suggesting relevant Stories for Highlights or even automatically curating collections based on user behavior and preferences.

In conclusion, Instagram Story Highlights have become an indispensable tool for personal branding and business marketing on the platform. By understanding how to create, design, and optimize your Highlights, you can significantly enhance your Instagram presence and engage your audience more effectively. As this feature continues to evolve, staying informed about best practices and emerging trends will be crucial for maintaining a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of social media marketing.

How to Make and Use Instagram Story Highlights – Sked Social

It’s a fact: social media as a powerful marketing tool is here to stay. Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tumblr, YouTube, Reddit; there is much available for the modern, web-savvy marketer to take advantage of. 

Some brands use all of these, while some brands cherry-pick the platforms that resonate the most with their target audience and their field. Other companies have a tried and tested favourite and stick with that. 

Whichever category you fall into, you can be sure of one thing: Just when you think you have all the social media platforms under control, a new concept emerges that changes everything.

This is how many people feel about the Instagram Story Highlights features; something of a game changer for social media strategists in today’s market. Announced in December 2017, it is by no means a brand new feature. Yet, it is one that many brands have still not incorporated into their strategy.

What are Instagram Story Highlights?

Humans love visual content, and science supports this. In fact, our brains are wired in such a way that we absorb information far better if it is delivered alongside visual stimuli. As a result, Instagram is becomes a supremely powerful marketing tool for any business.

Originally launched as a response to the popularity of Snapchat, Instagram Stories allows a user to create a story; a temporary post that expires after 24 hours. Many love this feature, 500 million people in fact, based on active user figures, and these users can spend hours crafting a single story.

But, with so much effort going into these nuggets of digital expression, the fact that they vanish after one day can be disappointing. Instagram actually recognised this, and built the Story Highlights feature as a response. 

With this update, all Instagram Stories are automatically archived, and users can share their favourite creations in self-curated collections that have a permanent home just under their bio. Chances are you’ve seen some of these when you have browsed Instagram in the past.

They look like this on your Instagram profile:

So, rather than expressing themselves for a few short hours and then losing their work, users can now craft collections that are effectively snapshots of who they are and what their feed is all about. 

Users also get to pick and choose what goes into each collection, so they know that what they are showcasing to their followers is the very best it can be. 

It is also possible to add and remove Stories as time goes by – so Highlights can change as the user’s objectives and interests evolve. Best of all, there is no time limit, unlike with traditional Instagram Stories.

Keep in mind you can only add or change story highlights from the Instagram app on your iPhone or Android device. The web version will display your highlights (like in the screenshot above) but you can’t modify them.

How many Instagram story highlights can you have?

You can add unlimited Instagram highlight “groups” to your account. The only limit is that you can only add 100 archived stories to each group.

If you add more than 100 stories to a Instagram highlight group, it removes the “oldest” story and replaces that with the newest, so that the number of stories in the group always remains at a maximum of 100.

How to use Instagram Story Highlights

Check that the auto-archiving feature is turned on

When Story Highlights was first launched, this feature had to be turned on, manually, in the settings. But now it should automatically archive or save each Story to the cloud. So no more worrying about losing valuable content because someone forgot to save a Story to their camera roll!

To make sure the feature hasn’t been turned off at some point, do the following.

1. Go to your profile, then choose Settings.
2. From there select Privacy, then Story.
3. Here you will find all the setting related to Stories including “Saving” and “Sharing” controls.
4. Slide the tab to turn “Save to archive” on or off.

Create your Instagram Story Highlights

With if this feature activated, you’ll be able to browse all archived Stories and create the first Story Highlight for your client. If the feature was turned off, or they haven’t created any Stories yet – then you’ll be able to do this once stories have been added to the Archive.

First, go to your profile, then select “New”.

Now choose the items you want to add to this Highlight and select “Next” when you’re done.

At this point, you can edit the Highlight Cover. It can either be an image selected from the Stories included in the Highlight or a custom cover chosen from their Gallery.

Then you will need to name the Highlight, and finally tap “Done”.

And that’s it – your client’s new Highlight is under their bio and visitors to their profile can see it any time.

You can also create a Highlight using a Story that has just been posted. In other words, there is no need to wait 24 hours before you or your client can create an Instagram Story Highlight for their profile! This is great news if their account is new or they’re still finding their feet when it comes to creating Stories.

Tap on the Story, then tap on “Highlight” in the bottom right.

Their existing Highlights will appear at the bottom, so add the story to one of folders, or create an all-new Highlight.

They will be able to name the new Highlight now, but not change the Cover yet (don’t worry – this can be done later!).

And that is literally all there is to it. Editing a Highlight is just as easy. Simply long-press on the Highlight you want to add or remove a Story from, then tap on “Edit Highlight”. Now un-select any of the Stories already in the Highlight, or add a new one and select “Done”.

It is also possible to delete a Highlight during this step if you want to, but don’t worry because accidentally deleting a Highlight is unlikely, thanks to the confirmation option.

Also keep in mind that new Highlights will appear first on a user’s profile, or on the left-hand side. So if you have the Highlights arranged in a specific order, then keep that in mind when you create a new one or edit existing ones.

Editing will require adding a Story so take into consideration that you may need to remove and then re-add a Story to keep the Highlights in the order you prefer.

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Creating a custom cover for your Instagram Story Highlight

When Story Highlights first came out, users were pretty much stuck with the automatically-generated cover on your Instagram profile.

Extra levels of customisation were added, but creating and adding custom icons as highlights covers was still a complicated process.

Fortunately, after some fine-tuning, Instagram have now made it possible to use literally any image from your client’s Gallery as a Story Highlight Cover.

Simply long-press on the Highlight to begin changing the cover art.

Then select “Edit Highlight” and “Edit cover”.

You can choose one of the generated images from the Stories in that Highlight, or tap on the “gallery icon” to select an image direct from the Gallery itself.

Pick the image you want to use, position it in the window until it appears exactly how you want it to, then tap on “Next”.

When you’re happy with the image, click “Done”. Check and confirm both the Highlight name and its contents, then tap on “Done” again.

You may have noticed that some people are using an icon set for their Highlight Covers. A group of images that all look similar and reinforce their brand or the appearance of their profile. And creating this set is incredibly simple too. 

How to Create Your Own Custom Instagram Story Highlights Icons

One option is to download an icon pack from one of the many sites that offer them online. Or you can create wholly customised and 100% unique icons using a simple design app that can be downloaded onto your phone.

There are several apps to choose from, and a few that are intended specifically to create custom Instagram Story Highlight covers. Because it is free and is designed to be used by people who know absolutely nothing about design, Canva is one of the best apps for the job. It also has a desktop option.

First, you’ll need to download the app, then sign up for a free account using your email.

Now you will see tens of thousands of templates available for you to choose from, all sorted into categories. Tap on “Instagram Story”.

Now choose Instagram Story Highlight Cover. This will bring up a selection of templates for you to choose from. Or you can do a custom search if you’re looking for something specific.

Choose the template you want to use, then tap on “Edit”.

Now tap on the image to start editing. You will see little pencils at the bottom, in different coloured boxes. Select a colour and make your edit.

To make things easier for you, you can save your brand colours so they’re always right where you need them. The easiest way to add your custom colours is by using hue’s specific hex code, which you can get by talking to your logo’s graphic designer, or simply by using a free online service.

Move the elements around, play with colours, add elements as you wish, and go as crazy as you want to — it’s all up to you and your vision. The free version of Canva is incredibly powerful and versatile, but the paid version is worth the cost if you have multiple clients and will be using the app on a regular basis.

Once you’re done adjusting your design, tap the little arrow in the top right then choose how you would like to save or share the image you’ve created.

Finally – return to Instagram and follow the same steps as before to edit your Instagram Story Highlight Cover as before. And you’re all done. Now each of the Highlights has the covers you’ve chosen to suit your customer’s brand and the first impression you want to make when someone visits their profile!

Size and dimensions for highlight icons

The best size for your highlight icons is the same as for an Instagram story – the typical size used is 1920 pixels high and 1080 pixels wide.

You can pick a background color, then add your icon for your cover image right in the middle of the rectangle (like the cupcake above). When you are picking the highlight icon, you can zoom and adjust how the icon appears in the Instagram app.

How to delete Instagram story highlights

To delete a highlight, it’s really easy.

Just like you’re editing it, long-press on the Highlight from your profile page.

Then select “Delete Highlight”, and that’s it!

Creative ways to use highlights and tips for success

Remember that these Stories are designed to represent a brand in the right way, so it is right to say that their content is pretty important! Yes, they can be edited and changed as time goes by, but they still need to carry some sort of message right from the beginning.

They are a synopsis, a quick look what a company stands for as a brand – and that means they should be a selection of the best, most demonstrative and evocative content. Read on for a few ideas of how to craft the ideal stories.

1. Highlight products and services

Highlights are a great way to showcase entire collections, or they can be used to show off just a single product. Create countdowns to the launch of the product, then an “It’s Here” arrival Story, followed by a Story about the benefits of this new product, and finally a testimonial confirming the benefits of that product from a satisfied customer.

For service-based businesses, Highlights made up of video testimonials from satisfied customers may be more effective, or vox pops from staff talking through how they go about doing what they do for their customers.

2. Grow your traffic by adding clickable links or using the swipe up feature on Stories

Any business Instagram account with more than 10,000 followers has access to the “Swipe Up” feature. Leverage this by adding a Call To Action telling people to swipe up to learn more, then send these prospects to the ideal page for conversion.

If you don’t have 10,000 followers yet then don’t despair. Using the @mention sticker and a #linkinbio allows you to still direct traffic to a URL of your choice. For more information on this #instahack and how to use it, have a look at this article from Brightspark Consulting.

3. Create FAQ, Tutorial and How-To Highlights

No matter the industry, no matter the field, you need FAQ, Tutorial, and How-To Highlights collections – these are simply the most visited Stories highlights type time and time again. Spending time compiling a comprehensive list of FAQs, and answering these questions to your best ability to get the most from this feature.

Remember that Instagram Stories are limited to a 15 second roll time per clip, so keep it short and divide the explanation into ordered sections if a little more time is needed to get the whole message across.

Now that you know everything that needs to be known about Instagram Story Highlights – you can easily explain it to your clients and show them how to use the feature effectively. And if you were wondering – yes, we’ll be doing the same.

How to Create Instagram Stories Highlights Cover + Free Icons!

Instagram Stories Highlights covers are a great way to keep your Instagram profile on-brand and take your aesthetic to the next level!

And with the right design, your covers can drive more views to your Highlights — generating valuable extra airtime for your Instagram Stories content.

So if you’re looking to level-up your Instagram Stories Highlights covers, but not sure where to start, this post is your step-by-step guide to success.

Plus, we’ve created a FREE set of cover icons that you can use right now!

What Makes a Good Instagram Stories Highlights Cover? 

Instagram Stories Highlights are located directly below your Instagram bio (aka front and center on your profile) — which means your choice of covers can make or break the first impression of your brand.

The good news is that there are easy ways to capitalize on this prime real estate!

Here are our top design tips for Instagram Stories Highlights covers:

Tip #1: Create Instagram Stories Highlight Covers that Elevate Your Brand Aesthetic

Incorporating your brand assets into your covers is an excellent way to make your Highlights feel more cohesive and professional.

Consider how your brand colors, fonts, and design trademarks can be incorporated into your covers. 

For example, Glossier uses all plain white covers, which is a nod to the minimal white packaging of their products.

While Her.HQ, Neighborhood Goods, and The Good Trade use brand colors and fonts to make their covers feel super on-brand. 

From playful patterns to bespoke lettering, there are endless opportunities to tap into your brand aesthetic to create your Highlights covers!   

Tip #2: Make Your Instagram Stories Highlights Covers Descriptive

A beautiful aesthetic may go a long way, but your Highlights covers should also act as a visual signpost for the content they contain. 

A good Instagram Stories Highlight cover will make it as easy as possible for your audience to understand what they’ll get from viewing a highlight.

Descriptive covers will encourage more taps, which means more views for your content!

bareMinerals and Hungry Hipsters use block letters and illustrations — while at Later we use clear icons to make our Instagram Stories Highlights easy to understand at a glance.

These are all great ways to make your covers more descriptive, without compromising on your overall aesthetic! 

Tip #3: Make Your Instagram Highlights Covers Cohesive

Once you’ve landed on your chosen cover style, it’s important to keep your covers cohesive. 

So if you’ve chosen to use icons for your covers, make sure every highlight cover uses an icon — or at least looks great alongside an icon.  

A mishmash of jarring covers will confuse your aesthetic and could make your brand look less professional on Instagram. 

ColourPop Cosmetics, photographer Jess Meyrick, and Greenhouse are great examples of accounts with strong, cohesive covers — even using consistent sentence casing for their highlights titles!

It’s worth also thinking about the order of your Highlights covers too, and how they will look side-by-side. 

The order of your Instagram Stories Highlights will change if you add a new Instagram Story to an existing Highlight, bringing it to the front of the queue. So if your covers only work in a certain order, you’ll need to keep this in mind!

TIP: Aim to design a new cover before creating a new Instagram Stories Highlight, so your branding can always stay on point!

How to Create Instagram Stories Highlights Covers

Thanks to the rise of design apps, like Over, creating custom and on-brand Instagram Stories Highlights covers has never been easier. 

To give you a head start on the design process, we’ve created a free pack of Instagram Stories Highlights cover icons! 

If you haven’t downloaded the icons yet, just enter your email here:

Once you’ve downloaded the pack on desktop, you can transfer the PNG icons to your mobile and use a design app to edit, or open the PSD file directly in Photoshop. 

HACK: If design isn’t your thing, we’ve got you covered! Look out for the “Covers” folder in the download, which includes several ready-made designs that are good to go!

Quick and Easy Option: Use the Over App

Over is packed full of easy-to-use tools that will make your Instagram Stories Highlights covers pop! 

ICYMI: Over’s Head of Brand Matt Riley hosted an exclusive session at LaterCon! Missed the live play? Catch up on all the action here!

To start off, you’ll need to transfer your downloaded icons to your mobile (by AirDrop, email, or message) and open the Over app.

In the Over app, you can import your own background by selecting “Image”, or select from a whole range of cool background designs by browsing their “Layout Collections”.

For this example, we’re selecting one of Over’s free layouts as a background, but you can choose any color, design, or even a picture. There are hundreds of cool designs available on Over Pro too!

Once you’ve selected your background, the first thing to do is to make sure it’s the right size! 

Tap on the “Layers” icon, and then select the background layer. You can then select the “Instagram Story” dimension.

From this same editing window, you can also change the background color of your design to align with your brand. Tap “Background”, and either use the scrollbar to select a color, or enter you chosen Hex color code. 

And once you’re happy with the color and dimension, you can go back into the layers panel to delete any unwanted layers, such as text. 

Now your canvas is ready to go, you add your icons or text! Select “Image” and select an icon from your media library.

Pinch to resize, and reposition until the yellow guidelines pop up — this is the best way to know that you’re placing the icon right in the center of the template. 

TIP: Add your icons to your “Favorites” folder to make them easier to find from the Over app!

If you’d rather have text on your Instagram Stories Highlights covers, tap the “Text” icon from the bottom panel and select a font. And with Over Pro, you can even import a custom font.

Once you’re happy with your designs, tap the yellow checkmark in the top right-hand corner, and then the export icon. Select “Save” and the design will be added to your photos!

Advanced Option: Use Photoshop on Desktop

If you’re more of a design whizz, you may want to use Adobe Photoshop to create your Instagram Stories Highlights covers.

Our free pack of Instagram Stories Highlights cover icons contains a PSD file with everything you need to get going, but you can use Photoshop’s advanced tools to further customize your designs! 

In the layer panel, hide every icon from view (aside from the one you’re working on) by unchecking the eye symbol.

Then, position your chosen icon in the center of the canvas. To edit the icon, right click the layer and select “Rasterize”. 

Once the layer is rasterized, you can edit the icon’s color palette to better suit your brand aesthetic.

With Photoshop, you can play with customized brushes, color variations, compositions and layouts — giving you extra flexibility to communicate your brand in a different way. 

How to Add Your Newly Designed Instagram Stories Highlights Covers

Now you’ve created your Instagram Stories Highlights covers, it’s time to put them into action! 

Option 1: Add a Cover to a New Highlight

After you’ve selected the stories for a new highlight, you’ll be prompted to choose a title and select your cover photo.

From here, you can upload your new cover designs from your camera roll!

Tap “Edit Cover” and then tap on the photo icon to upload a design you created earlier.

Pinch and drag your cover to make the icons bigger or smaller. You can also edit the title of your Instagram Stories Highlight by clicking in the “Name” field and typing a new title.  

Option 2: Add a Cover to an Existing Highlight

If you want to update the cover photo of an existing Highlight, start by opening the Highlight and tapping the ellipsis button in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

Select “Edit Highlight,” “Edit Cover,” and then tap on the photo icon to upload a design you created earlier.

It’s that easy! 

Creating Instagram Stories Highlights covers is a quick and easy way to revamp your Instagram profile and highlight your awesome stories!

So putting some time and effort into creating high-quality highlights covers can help you increase brand awareness, attract new followers, and showcase your most valuable Instagram Stories content to new visitors.  

Get a head start on your designs by downloading our free pack of Instagram Stories Highlights cover icons now! 

Written By

Jillian Warren

Jillian is Later’s Editor. A go-to expert in social media strategy and content marketing, she has worked in both London and New York. Next up? Lisbon and Paris! You can reach out to her on Instagram here: @jillwrren.

Difference Between Clips and Highlights on Twitch – Streamers Playbook

Although highlights and clips on Twitch seem very similar,
there are in fact some slight differences between the two. So….

What is the Difference Between Clips and Highlights on Twitch?

The main difference between clips and highlights on Twitch is that clips can be made by all people on all live or archived streams where as highlights can only be made from your own personal archived streams. In other words, you can clip parts of any streamers channel but you can only create highlights from your own personal streams.

Why Should You Create Clips on Twitch

Clips allow you to easily capture cool or special moments that happen in a stream that you are watching. These clips can then be easily shared with your friends or to one of your social media platforms for others to view. The clips that are shared will also come with a link for others to view the original source, or full video from where the clip came from.

If you want to know how to upload clips to Twitter then check out this article.

Creating and sharing clips is a great way to promote your favorite streamer. If you have a streamer you like and want to see them succeed, then clipping and sharing some awesome moments from their stream will do them a lot of good.

The clips you create will be automatically saved on the streamer’s channel under the “clips” page for other viewers to see.

On the “clips” page, your Twitch ID is at the top, and under the video is the Broadcaster’s name, the game they were playing, and the title of their stream. At the top of the “clips” page there are also different filters you can apply such as when the clip was posted and type of game being played.

You can also download clips to your computer for you to upload whenever you want. I prefer downloading clips and uploading them later because they look better on social media and it also gives you time to edit the clips and make them look nice.

Now if you are serious about streaming then you will have a lot of clips that you will be downloading and uploading. So I suggest getting an external hard drive to store all of your saved clips.

The one I recommend is the Seagate Portable hard drive on Amazon. It’s a highly rated product and works for PC, Mac, PS4 and Xbox. Pretty much any device you will stream on, this device has you covered.

Like I said, it is nice being able to store a lot of clips outside of your computer because these clips can take up space quickly. I use an external hard drive myself for clips and videos so that way I don’t run out of space on my PC. I really like it and highly recommend it.

Going back to clips, one way to help your stream grow is to have your viewers clip and share moments from your stream.

I am sure you have heard streamers during their stream yell out “CLIP THAT” when they do something spectacular. You should do the same!

Clipping and sharing some good game play or funny moments in your stream will help to bring attention to your stream and help to attract more viewers.

Having viewers clip awesome moments from your stream also helps to create a small highlight reel on your channel that others can view. This is because every time a video on your stream is clipped it is saved automatically to the “clips” section of your stream.

Before you know it you will have a ton of awesome clips without having to do any work.

How to Create Clips on Twitch

Clipping on Twitch is simple and can be done by following
these steps:

1. Go to the streamers channel that you want to create a clip from.
2. Once you are on the live stream or archived stream that you want to clip from, click the clapper board icon. This will make a clip of the previous 90 seconds which you can edit to make the clip anywhere between 5 and 60 seconds long.
3. After you have edited the clip, create a title and click publish. Once you click publish you will be given the option to share a link to the clip to various social media networks for others to see.

There are two ways to view the clips you have saved:

1. You can go to the “clips” page on a streamers channel and click the “manage my clips” page or
2. You can go to your dashboard, then to your video producer and go to the “videos” section and click on the “clips” section.

Either of these two options will bring up a full list of
your clips that you have made.

How to Delete Clips on Twitch

To delete clips on Twitch:

1. Go to your “dashboard” on Twitch.
2. Once on the dashboard go to your “video producer” section on Twitch.
3. Go to the “videos” section and click on “clips”
4. A full list of your clips will appear, check the boxes of the clips you want to delete and then click the trash can icon to delete the clips that you have checked.

You might want to delete clips if you saved them on accident
or if you want to clean up your channel and remove clips that are not relevant.

To better control what kind of clips are posted on their channel many streamers choose to create highlights of their past broadcasts.

Why Should You Create Highlights on Twitch

Highlights give viewers a quick preview of what you and your channel are all about without you having to be online live streaming. Having highlights of your past streams allows viewers access to your content, even when you are offline.

As was mentioned, highlights can only be created by the
creator of the past stream. Unlike clips, other users can not make highlights
of your stream which gives the streamer complete control over what portions of
their stream they want to be highlighted.

Having highlights available gives viewers access to your
best moments. If someone is scrolling through Twitch and finds your channel,
don’t you want them to see your best moments and not you fixing your camera for
five minutes?

Not to mention the fact that people who are casually scrolling through Twitch looking for new channels are not going to want to watch a four hour stream to see if they like you as a streamer. Saving past broadcasts is mainly to keep your subs and followers up to date, not necessarily to attract new comers.

When making your highlights try to keep them to around a
minute long, and do not let them be longer than two minutes. Highlights are
meant to grab the attention of those who visit your stream to possibly persuade
them to visit your stream when you are live.

Another way to gain the attention of potential viewers is to
export your saved highlights to other media outlets such as YouTube or
Instagram.

How to Make Highlights on Twitch

1. Login to Twitch and go to your dashboard.
2. Next, go to the left side of the screen and scroll down until you
   see the “videos” heading and click “video producer”.
3. Once you click “video producer”, a list of your past broadcasts
   and other videos you have created will appear. Find the past broadcast you
   want to highlight and click the “highlight” button next to it.
4. You will taken to a new tab where you will be able to begin
   highlighting different sections of your video.
5. Lastly, once you have selected the parts of the video you want to
   highlight (at the bottom of the page you can input or select the different
   times of the video that you would like to highlight) then click the
   “create highlights” button and your highlights are complete.

Creating highlights
is simple and can be done within a few minutes. Try your best to keep the
highlights short and to the point. Remember, they are highlights and not
repeats of your old broadcasts.

How to Delete Highlights on Twitch

To delete highlights on Twitch:

1. Go to your Twitch “dashboard”.
2. Go to the section titled “videos” and click on “video producer”.
3. A list of all your saved videos will and highlights will appear. Now click on the three dot menu button to the right of the video you want to delete and choose the delete option from the list of options that appear.

Unlike saved broadcasts, highlights will not be deleted until you decide to delete them.

Streamers may decide to delete old highlights if they have better highlight to replace them or if they no longer want the highlights on their channel but again it is completely up to the streamer when they want to delete their highlights.

As always, if you have any questions or just want to hang with me, stop by my Twitch channel here and say what’s up!

Interested in Streaming? Check Out My Recommendations

Not Sure Which Streaming Software to Use?

Streamlabs Prime comes with the ability to multi-stream, free overlays and is widely considered the easiest streaming software to use. Use my link here and you get a sweet discount! 

In Need of Emotes, Overlays or Alerts?

OWN3D.TV has everything you need to make your stream stand out ! They have hundreds of options and are who I use for my overlays and emotes. Check them out here.

Concerned About DMCA?

DMCA claims have gotten many streamers suspended and even banned from streaming platforms. In order to avoid getting in trouble, I get all of my music and sounds from Tune Pocket. They have tons of copyright free music for you to jam to.

Looking to Upgrade Your Streaming Equipment?

Below is some equipment that will take your stream to the next level:

For my complete list of recommended equipment click here.

Also, if you are feeling generous, I would really appreciate it if you followed my Twitch channel, you can do so by clicking here. I am trying to grow so that way I can better help you all. I am also up to helping you answer any streaming questions that you may have so feel free to stop by. I really appreciate you all !

And for even more tips, tricks and how tos subscribe to my Youtube channel here. I post two videos a week to help you with your streams. 

Twitch clips and highlights are very similar, but there are
several key differences. In short, clips gives viewers control of cool things
on your channel and highlights give that control to the streamer.

Using both clips and highlights are key to growing and
promoting your stream so use them both to creating a great streaming experience
for those who support you.

Five easy steps to create a sports highlight video

If you’ve managed communications for a tournament before, you might be wondering why on earth you’d want to add creating a video highlight package to your non-stop list of press releases, tweets, Facebook updates, and website management. While it’s true that highlight packages can be a little labour intensive, they can also have a massive payoff for your organization
 

Find these steps in Module #13:

1. What to do before the event
2. Filming the highlight package
3. Editing the highlight package
4. Posting your video
5. Promoting your video
    

Here’s why a highlight reel is worth your time:

1. Highlight packages routinely get thousands of views. Because they feature dozens of athletes, highlight packages have a larger built-in audience than other video types. If your event is not a webcast, a highlight video also allows friends and family back home to watch their favourite athletes in action. Highlight videos are also very popular with your sport’s fans around the world because they transcend language barriers. A baseball fan can appreciate a great double play whether it takes place in Canada, Japan or Cuba.
2. Highlight packages have a long shelf life. Long after the final trophy has been handed out, your highlight package will be working hard to promote your sport. A single two-minute highlight package might be used by the media as b-roll (depending on the quality), shown by an athlete at a school presentation, sent to a granting organization to show that your event was successful, or turned into promotional material for next year’s event. One day’s work can pay dividends years later!
3. Highlight packages provide value for sponsors and partners. If you work with a smaller sport, you might not be able to guarantee even 100 fans in the stands. If your sponsors’ banners or signs are shown in a highlight video, however, you can provide your sponsors with a wider audience and support their own social media efforts.

4. Highlight packages let your sport speak for itself: Some sports suffer from negative stereotypes that prevent fans from tuning in. A highlight video showcases your athletes’ talent and allows all the excitement and passion of your sport to shine through unfiltered.

So how do you create a highlight package without any experience in video editing? The secret is in preparation. Follow these easy steps to create your own highlight video.

1. What to do before the event

Decide what your film’s resolution should be

It’s understandable that most sport communicators want to show their sport in high definition. But while HD video is obviously preferable, working with it can be challenging for new filmmakers. Here’s why:
 

• HD video files are very large. While standard definition video footage can be transferred to your computer easily and viewed immediately, large video formats can take hours to transfer and render. HD therefore adds a delay in every stage. If you don’t have a lot of time, HD might not work for you.
   
• Because HD files are so large, they may also be difficult to work with on laptops or other computers not designed for video editing, which can cause issues with lagging and crashing.
   
• Some easy video-editing software (i.e. Imovie) automatically converts your footage into its own file format, which can cause a loss in quality. YouTube also automatically adjusts video quality based on the viewer’s bandwidth. Even though you put in extra work to film in high-definition, your viewers might only see standard-definition.
   

In short, aim to film in the best resolution for the most manageable amount of work. You might decide to start filming in standard definition and work up to high-def as your knowledge of video editing improves.

Assemble Your Gear

Ensure that all of your video equipment is in good working order, fully charged and easily accessible.

You’ll need:

• A video camera (Note: you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on equipment to create a great video highlight package. In fact, most organizations use simple video cameras like the FlipCam – see right – to make video highlight packages because they’re so simple to use.)
• Extra batteries
• A battery charger
• A tripod or monopod (to avoid giving your loyal fans motion sickness)
• A gear bag (you can choose a conventional gear bag or sacrifice fashion for utility and rock a fanny pack)
• A notepad and a pencil

Get familiar with your video editing software

If you’re new to video editing, you’ll need video editing software that’s simple to use. Software like Final Cut and Adobe Premiere give you powerful video editing capabilities, but they have a steep learning curve. For beginners, most professionals recommend iMovie or Windows Movie Maker. If you have any trouble with your video- editing software, check out YouTube for a wide range of easy- to-follow tutorials. (We’ll also have a module shortly on creating simple online videos).

Remember: if your organization is a non-profit, you can get video editing software at a reduced price thanks to Techsoup Canada.

Prepare any graphics, titles or templates

Create a folder with tournament logos, sponsor logos and any other graphics that you might want to include in your video. Many organizations use Photoshop to create simple title cards/frontplates to ensure consistent branding, but if this isn’t within your organization’s capabilities, don’t worry: most simple video editing programs make this process easy.

Find music

Music can make or break a highlight video, but you have to have permission to use it. So no matter how tempting it is to bust out “Eye of the Tiger” for your video highlight package, err on the side of caution by finding Creative Commons music that works with the tone you want to convey. Creative Commons has a system of licenses that allow artists to control the rights to their material. Many will provide their music free of charge in exchange for credit and extra exposure.

Music that builds to a crescendo tends to be the most effective. When selecting music, you should also think of your audience. Dubstep, for example, is not to everyone’s tastes. If you think your music might be off-putting to people within your audience, then select a different song.

2. Filming the highlight package

The reason that there are fewer video highlight packages on YouTube than you’d expect is that many people aren’t sure how to turn eight hours of video footage into a two-minute clip. The more competition footage you have, the better the chance that you’ll capture some truly impressive highlights, but how do you unearth these without having to re- watch everything?

Technique 1

The easiest way to avoid slogging through hours of footage is to ruthlessly separate the wheat from the chaff before you even leave the field of play. 

Here’s how: Film every play individually. Each clip will be between 15 and 30 seconds, depending on your sport. If a play doesn’t have a highlight, simply delete it. (This is easier to do on video cameras like the FlipCam, which have the delete button right by the record button). After eight hours in the gym, you’ll be left with maybe 20 minutes of high-quality footage, which is quick to render and quick to sort through.

Technique 2

If you don’t have the equipment to try Technique 1, you’ll have to sort through the footage during the editing process. (You might also be filming the game for a different reason, like scouting, and may not be able to perform technique 1). Keep the camera running and have a notebook and pencil at your side. When something interesting happens, note what time it occurs on the tape. Though you may still have to render the entire game’s footage, you won’t have to watch it all over again to know when the “hit” occurs.

Technique 3

If your event had a good crowd, use the sound of their cheering to your advantage. Simply load all of your footage into your video editing software then look at the audio graph. Chances are that the spikes you see in the audio are caused by the crowd reacting to a good play or a controversial call.

Tips for great filming

1. Make sure you get close-up shots of athletes. Showing the expressions on people’s faces (a coach shouting at her team, an athlete celebrating after a key shot), adds drama to your video.
    
2. Vary the location and angle you film from if possible. This adds visual interest.
    
3. If you have access to a GoPro, use it! Some of your athletes may already be using GoPros for coaching/training purposes, so see if you can access this footage.
    
4. Crashes/hits are the most popular highlight type. In fact, ‘fail’ videos are strangely often more popular than videos of the most beautiful, perfectly time play.
    
5. Make sure to use a tripod or monopod. Your videos shouldn’t cause nausea!
    
6. Include shots of sponsor or partner banners/posters if possible.
    
7. Don’t be afraid to get audience reaction shots, or even shots that show the “flavour” of the event, such as athletes taping up/focusing for competition.

3. Editing the highlight package

If you’ve been following along with the steps so far, editing your highlight package should be pretty simple.

The trick with editing highlight packages is to keep it short. The average sports video on YouTube is 3:40 minutes1 but the most popular videos are between two and four minutes. If your video is longer than four minutes, people will tune out.

If you don’t have a lot of experience in video editing, less is definitely more. Though simple video editing programs offer you a great deal of special effects, these can look cheesy really quickly. Let your content shine through by not cluttering your video with effects.
 

Some other tips for successful video editing

• Ruthlessly trim your clips to include just the highlight. Too much set-up will cause your viewers (who often are not experts in your sport) to lose interest.
   
• Vary the types of highlights in your video. If you’ve got three great goals in your hockey highlight package, spread them out to increase their impact.
   
• If you are using music that builds, you might choose to start out with longer clips and speed up to quick, dramatic clips during the dramatic part of the music.
   
• You can create impact by playing with your clip length so that the clips match the beat of the music. (Some video-editing software can do this automatically).
   
• Include clips of a variety of athletes and even supporters. While it’s tempting to include shots from a few superstars, these stars likely get a lot of media attention and the novelty has worn off. A rookie who rarely gets attention is much more likely to share your video than a star player.
   
• Reduce or increase the audio volume on each clip so that they’re uniform. If you’re using music, make sure that you can still hear some of the clip’s original audio.
   
• Play with the brightness and colour of each clip to create better video quality. 

Need some motivation? Here are some great examples of sports highlight videos to get those juices flowing:

-The Top Ten Sports Highlights

-Highlights of Extreme Sports Films 2011

-Wheelchair Rugby Hard Hits – Vancouver Invitational
 

4. Posting your video

Phew. Your video is ready. But if you think your job is over, think again. Now you’ve got to maximize your views on YouTube (if you choose to host it there).

These are the fields you must fill out when you upload a video on YouTube:

The above is a screenshot of a wheelchair rugby highlight video. In order to maximize my views and allow others to find it, I’ve done the following:
 

Title: Should be descriptive, catchy, but also contain key words. My video’s title contains the sport’s name, and the word ‘hit’ and ‘highlight’ so that when someone searches for “wheelchair rugby hits” (a popular search) they will find it.
 

Description: Keep the description short, but make sure to embed key words and add a link to your website.
 

Privacy Settings: If you want your video to be accessible to everyone, make sure the privacy setting is set to Public. If you only want to share this video with specific people, change it to Unlisted. Once Unlisted, only those people you share the link with can watch the video. This means it won’t show up on your channel or in search results.
 

Category: Make sure that your video is clearly identified as a sport video.
 

Tags: This is arguably the most important field. YouTube places a limit on the number of tags you’re allowed, so choose them wisely. You may have to do some searching to figure out what highlights are most popular so that you can tag these. In the sport of wheelchair rugby, crashes and hits are most popular, so I’ve tagged these. Try to imagine what people might search for to find your video.

5. Promote your video

You’re done! It was a lot of work, but hopefully it will be worth it. If you’ve read the first 12 modules of this guide, you will have a good idea of the ways to promote your video. These include:

• Share on Facebook, Twitter and social media platforms you use
   
• Post on your organization’s website
   
• Send out the video in an e-newsletter. If you are creating the highlight video on the first day of the tournament, use it to get more spectators by sending an e- blast to your membership list with the link to the video and a schedule.
   
• Share the video with your sponsors and partners
   
• Play the video during the tournament’s banquet
   

Great work! You’re now well on your way to becoming a highlight package expert!

Sources

1. http://www.sysomos.com/reports/youtube/
To learn more, check out our Social Media Toolkit, found here.

Click this button to download the toolkit as a PDF:

Download PDF

How to make Instagram Highlight covers in 3 easy steps

For those with personal Instagram accounts, Instagram Highlights are modern-day scrapbooks, providing a clean way to virtually categorize all of the precious moments shared in your Stories.

Creators and influencers, on the other hand, use Highlights to feature specific themes or topics that they often share with their online audience. For example, they might break down skincare tips or share photoshoot ideas in one easy-to-locate place on their profile.

Regardless of how you use your Instagram Highlights, they are a great way to show off a wide variety of what makes you or your personal brand unique. But if you want to take it a step beyond simply curating a collection of photos and videos, the next move is to choose a specifically designed Instagram Highlight cover.

In this guide, we’ll go over everything you need to know about Instagram Story Highlight icons and how to make them.

Step 1. Plan your Highlight covers

Before you start scrolling through your Stories Archive, it’s crucial first to plan out what you want your Highlight covers to be. That way, you can curate your personal collections based on your Highlight theme.

For example, if your content is centered around travel, you might want to categorize your Highlights according to specific locations or types of vacations. Creating a plan first will make curating the Highlights (and their covers) that much easier.

Match your account’s aesthetic

When planning your Highlight covers, take your profile’s aesthetic into consideration. If your photos and content are edited to be airy and minimalistic, a bright and vibrant Highlight cover will look awkward. If you’re using white borders on your Instagram photos, consider a nod to that theme in your highlight covers. Staying consistent with your profile’s overall theme is a great way to communicate your personal brand to new followers. And if you haven’t established your aesthetic yet, choosing Highlight covers is a great way to start solidifying it.

For example, blogger @paytonsartain plays to the neutral colors often found in her photos, using similar tones as Highlight covers. And photographer @kileyshaiphotography does the same, with the colors of her ocean shots reflecting her choice of Highlight covers.

Make sure the cover reflects what’s in the Highlight

This may go without saying, but it’s a good reminder nonetheless: Make sure that the cover you choose reflects what’s inside the Highlight.

Now, if you’re going with a basic color scheme cover, this point doesn’t apply — just make sure the Highlight name is clear, concise, and to the point. But if you’re using an icon or a cover with a design, it needs to accurately reflect the content. Using a plane icon for a Highlight of your vacations or a camera icon for your photography tips will much more sense than using a graphic that doesn’t represent what’s inside.

Use icons

Probably the most popular way to create Instagram Highlights is to use a graphic or icon that represents what’s inside. We’ll go into detail about how to do this in the following section, but it’s a great way to showcase what your profile is all about.

For example, life coach and enneagram teacher @enneagramashton has created number icons for her covers to show off the content she creates for each specific enneagram type. Meanwhile, digital creator @chelseaasoflate keeps the same sunset-colored background behind all of her Instagram Highlight covers, which feature everything from photo tips to thrifting hauls.

Keep your covers similar

Part of matching your profile’s aesthetic is ensuring that your Highlight covers are similar in some way. You can do this by keeping them all within one color palette or using the same background behind different graphics.

If you don’t do this, your profile will look messy and chaotic — which could work if a messy and chaotic feel coincides with your brand. But for a more curated profile, make sure your Highlights match.

Step 2. Design your Instagram Story Highlight icons

Now that we’ve covered some of our top tips for planning out your Instagram Highlight covers, it’s time to make them!

Fortunately, creating covers is a lot easier than it looks. You don’t need expert designing skills or expensive computer programs to make your Highlights shine — just a little time and a free third-party tool.

How to make Instagram Highlight covers with Canva

When it comes to designing Instagram Highlight covers, Canva is the most popular tool available. Free to use on your desktop and free to download as an app to your iPhone, Canva provides hundreds of templates to use as-is or to tweak to make them your own.

Here’s how to use it:

1. Open the Canva app.
2. If you already have an account, log in. If not, sign up and create one.
3. Select “Instagram Story” under the “Create a design” tab.
4. Scroll through the designs until you find one you like. You can also type “Instagram Highlight Cover” into the search bar.
5. Select the design you like.
6. Tap on the design to change the color and text or to add other graphics.
7. When you’ve finished your design, press the share button at the top right of the screen.
8. Select “Save as image.”

And you’re done! From there, your design will be saved to your Camera Roll, where you can upload it to your Highlights. Repeat the steps above to create additional cover images.

How to design highlight icons with Story Highlight Cover Maker

Another fun (and free) app to use is Story Highlight Cover Maker. With hundreds of icons to choose from, this app lets you design your cover practically from scratch. You can even choose your own photos to use as a background and add text.

The app is free to download and comes with one icon pack. Additional icon packs are available for purchase.

Here’s how to create a Highlight cover using Story Highlight Cover Maker:

1. Open Story Highlight Cover Maker.
2. Select your background.
3. Press Next.
4. Choose the inner circle’s opacity level and its color (if you want it to be different from the background color).
5. Press Next.
6. Scroll through and select your icon or text.
7. Press Export.

After following these steps, your newly designed cover will be available in your Camera Roll.

What size should Instagram Highlight covers be?

While the tools mentioned above will automatically size your Instagram Highlight cover to fit the app’s requirements, you can also create covers elsewhere. If you do, make sure they are 1080 x 1920 pixels.

Step 3. Add custom covers to your Instagram Highlights

Now it’s time to put it all together. In this section, we’ll go over the simple steps for adding your newly created cover photo to your Instagram Highlights.

In recent years, Instagram has made it easier than ever to add a cover photo to a Highlight. After creating your Highlight, follow the steps below:

1. Open the Instagram app.
2. Press the profile image button at the bottom-right corner of the page.
3. Select the Highlight you wish to update.
4. Press the More button at the bottom-right corner of the page.
5. Select Edit Highlight.
6. Select Edit Cover.
7. Scroll to the left and press the image button.
8. Scroll until you find your new cover design and select it.
9. Press Done.

Instagram Highlights are a great way to showcase who you are and what your profile is all about. And adding a cover photo will help followers navigate to the exact content they’re looking for on your page.

How to Create an Event Highlights Video That Will Attract Attendees

From creating press releases, planning promotion, to chasing vendors – organizing events can be a labour intensive process.

Not only can events be very expensive to organize, but they also require a lot of resources and prior planning.

As a company you want to maximise everything you put resources into when you produce an event, especially content.

Video content in particular, you’ll want to use it strategically and get the most out of it. This means turning one event video into multiple highlight videos and use them in a plethora of ways.

So from creating a buzz around your current event to promoting your future ones, video content from one event alone can pay dividends for months (and even years) at end.

What is a corporate event highlight video? ?

Similar to movie teasers and wedding videos, highlight video is a couple of minutes long video that shows the essential features of your corporate event succinctly. It’s not just limited to physical corporate events – it could be anything from town hall meetings and trade shows, to an online charity event.

2 Types of Highlight videos:

There are two main types of highlight videos that you can create for your event.

1) Highlight recap videos

Highlight recap videos are used post-event, to share an inside look on the event experience. They highlight all the impactful moments that took place in that event.

2) Highlight teaser

Highlight teasers are used to entice potential attendees into attending. With a plethora of events happening online, onsite, and even hybrid events, it can be hard to convince your audience to attend your event.

This is where an irresistible highlight teaser comes in.

Why event highlight videos ?

With lengthy to-do lists, creating promotional content for the event, and maintaining constant contact with vendors and stakeholders, there’s a ton that you need to do prior to the event. And even more once the event is over.

So why should you spend time creating event highlight videos?

Videos are much more engaging, dynamic, and prompt a higher intent to register. They show your audience exactly what to expect from the event.

And people prefer watching videos over reading lengthy promotional landing pages. After all, 59% of executives say they would rather watch a video than read text.

With the right tools, they can be quite easy to create

There’s a lot involved in creating a professional looking, high quality video.

But if you’re new to the videography world, or on a budget, you can create professional looking videos easily with the right online video maker and some super-helpful tips and tricks.

• Videos have a long shelf life and get a high ROI

Videos can be used immediately post-event leading up to the next edition, and in a plethora of ways.

So from using it as an internal thank-you video for your rockstar employees, to inviting new sponsors and prospecting attendees, you’re all sorted till the next event.

And according to Optinmonster, video marketers achieve a 54% increase in brand awareness, with 93% of marketers saying they’ve landed a new customer thanks to a video on social media.

Challenges companies face when making event highlight videos ⏰

So we know that videos can yield a high ROI, our audience prefers it over text, and we’ve pretty much entered a video-first world.

But even then, not all businesses have jumped on this bandwagon. Why?

• Lack of time and resources

Whether it’s creating a promotional event highlight video or going through hours of footage to create a highlight recap video, creating videos can be a time consuming process.

And not all businesses have the time or resources needed to invest in the video creation process.

• Lack of video creation skills

Creating videos, especially ones that stop your audience in their tracks and make them rewatch 10 times, requires superior video skills.

It’s not just shooting the video that’s a challenging task but also editing it, which can seem like a hard mountain to climb.

Especially for businesses that don’t have a specialized in-house video team or the budget to outsource to a skilled videographer and editor.

• Lack of inspiration and ideas

Creating inspiring videos require a certain amount of creativity.

When you’re juggling multiple hats organizing your event, it can be a little challenging to summon your inner creative self. Creativity requires abundance of time, which unfortunately you might not have at that moment. And a simple video without any creative or fun elements is not going to make a big impact on your audience.

So what do you do? Should businesses with little time and resource, lack of video creation and editing skills, and dearth of ideas and inspiration not create event highlight videos?

Absolutely not.

The solution is very simple.

Empower your teams to create videos internally using easy to use online video makers.

There are a ton of online video makers that make the entire video creation process hassle-free. With a plethora of templates, easy to use interface, and all tools necessary to create high-quality videos consistently, online video makers are a lifesaver for busy business owners and cash-strapped businesses.

10 best practices for making event highlights videos ?

The better your event highlights video, the more attention it’ll garner. So how can you further amp up the quality of your video?

An event highlight video is only a couple of minutes long. So choose the best, high quality footage when creating it. Shaky footage, shots with minimal lighting, and inaudible audio can easily destroy your event highlight video.

Capture a lot of b-roll footage to make sure you have high quality footage to add to your video.

A great way to start off your event highlights video? Time lapse footage of your event space filling up with people and highlighting the scale of the audience.

2.Feature testimonials from real people

Adding testimonials from real people lends credibility to your video.

Consumers trust user reviews and testimonials. According to a research, 90% of buyers who read positive customer success content claimed that it influenced their purchasing decisions.

Prospect attendees by showing them genuine glowing reviews of people who attended your last event  – highlight their positive experience and ask them to describe parts of the event they liked best. Even if you’re making a super short, 60 to 90 seconds long event highlight video, add snippets of a few testimonials.

Or you can always just show closeup shots of happy, engaging faces having fun and enjoying themselves at the event. Like Anoop Studio did here.

3.Feature key information

• How long was your event?
• How many people attended it?
• How many speakers did you have?
• How much money did you raise if it was a charity event?
• How many sponsors did you have?
• How many exhibitions did you hold?
• What percentage of last year’s attendees came back this year?
• What was the main attraction, the best part of the entire event?

And so on.

Feature key information in your event video highlight by highlighting numbers. Make sure to add everything that would convince prospects to attend your next event, and show your audience what a huge success your current event was.

The best way to feature this information is by adding text to your video. However, make sure the text you choose is in sync with your branding, pops on top of the video, and looks professional.

4.Use eye catching visuals and motion graphics

You have around 3 seconds to capture your viewers attention, so you need to make the most of it. A great way to capture their attention is by using eye catching visuals, animation, text and motion graphics at the right time.

Since the highlights video is super short, adding animation helps to bring notice to key elements of the events.

5.Highlight big name speakers and presenters

Time for some name-dropping.

You’ve managed to get some big name keynote speakers and industry leaders at your event. Super exciting!

But if you don’t highlight them in your events highlight video, you’re missing out on a massive opportunity to attract attendees for your next event and show your audience what a huge hit your recent event was.

Because let’s face it, people love big names. They love to share spaces with big names. They love the chance of networking with them. A lot of people might just attend your future event because of these big names.

So highlight them. Add footage of them speaking on stage, having group discussions with the audience, and just having fun with the team. Include interviews with them, where they talk about how awesome your event was.

If you highlight them enough in the video, you can also ask them to promote your video on their social channels. Excellent way of garnering even more interest in your event.

6.Incorporate appropriate music

Ever watch an event highlight video without some sort of music going on in the background?

I haven’t either. But, when you’re creating a highlights video, what kind of music works best? How do you decide?

The first step is to recognize what type of event you have. Is it a charity event, a corporate event, or any other event?

Next, what sort of audience are you targeting? If your audience is millennials, you can get away with an upbeat fast track. But, if you’re targeting older folks, you might want to use something a little softer, with zero profanities.

Whatever music you choose, make sure you find Creative Commons music that works with the tone you’re going for.

And, if you’re going to include voice overs, snippets of speeches by keynote speakers, or testimonials by participants, make sure you capture crisp and clear sound. You can do this by getting the mic as close to the speaker and participants as possible.

Using a lapel mic comes in handy here.

7.Write a simple script

Regardless of whether you’re using the video to promote your new event or to show how it went, keep your script as simple as possible. Keep the text as concise as possible (after all, it’s only a few minutes long video) while still arousing the curiosity of your audience.

Some best practices around how to write a good video script include:

• Focusing on benefits instead of features of the event
• Adding quotes by leaders who attended the event
• Highlighting one of the debates at the event
• Asking leading questions like, “Why should you attend this event?” and then answering them in the highlights video.

8.Use a mix of close up and wide angle shots

Using a variety of different angles is a great way to add visual interest to your highlight videos.

When you’re making a highlight video of a physical event, show a mix of both close ups and wide angle shots. Use multiple lenses if you have only one person shooting the video.

9.Include CTA so people know when to sign up

You’ve done a great job creating an awesome event highlights video. You’ve promoted it everywhere and even asked influencers to share it on their platform.

It’s garnering a ton of views.

But, there are hardly any conversions.

Why?

Because you didn’t include a persuasive Call To Action.

People want to know what to do next. They need a plan of action. According to recent research, 23% of people (30% of Millennials) want a video to be accompanied by a link that allows them to directly purchase a product.

So always add a CTA at the end of your event highlights video and in the caption, too (with a link to your event’s landing page).

Some examples of CTAs include,

• Sign up NOW
• Register now
• Visit our website for more details
• Book your spot
• Learn more

Editing the video is as important as shooting it and there are several tricks you can employ to amp up the video in the editing phase. One of them is playing around with the speed of the video. This not only adds visual interest to the video, but using speed strategically can help highlight important areas of the event.

So for example, by showing an industry leader’s keynote speech in slow motion, you’re ensuring that the audience focuses on it, too. Similarly, whichever parts you feel need highlighting, you can show them in slow motion. And go 2x speed on the other stuff.

A great example is this event highlights video where all the exhibitions are shown in slow motion, while everything else is in fast motion.

So experiment with different speeds of the footage to see what looks best.

Wrapping up

If you’re still unsure whether you should create event highlights video, remember video is the future. We’re already a part of a video-first world, and brands that are slow to catch on miss out on a plethora of opportunities.

After all, this year over 80% of all internet traffic will consist of video.

So if you don’t want to miss out, jump on this bandwagon and start creating your first event highlight video through PlayPlay.

How to Create Your Own Highlight Reel

Let’s be honest. No matter how un-cool you might have been back in the day, there’s still something pretty fabulous about reflecting back on those embarrassing hairdos and strange outfit ensembles that get us totally jazzed. Want to show off those fluffy bangs and that large-and-in-charge perm to your kiddos? How about that pair of high tops you wore around until they were so tattered your mom had to sneak into your bedroom and steal them for a backyard burial, ensuring you’d never find them again? (Oops, I’ve said too much. You’re going to go dig those suckers up now, aren’t you?) Well, creating a highlight reel might be your ticket to unbeatable nostalgia. Not only is this multimedia stitching a great way to piece together silly moments from your heyday, but you can also relive your life’s greatest memories: a baby’s first steps and spoken words; your first high school dance, when you wore that terrible puff-sleeved Barbie-esque gown; the look on your husband’s face when you walked down the aisle; your parents’ shock when you surprised them with a trip to Paris for their 40th anniversary; that epic bachelorette party in Miami beach with your closest girlfriends (except let’s not include the hot tub dancing and barstool debauchery, shall we?)…Whatever your personal narrative is, the story can be told through a highlight reel!

HIGHLIGHT REEL

A Highlight Reel is a compilation of video clips and photographs, similar to a multimedia slideshow, meant to summarize an event, personality or phenomenon. At Legacybox, we are often asked how to create a mash-up of the digitized items we deliver. So, here are just a few of the services we recommend, with easy step-by-step instructions on how to put together a reel of your own:

MAC COMPUTER INSTRUCTIONS

If you have a Mac computer, the iMovie app is available for free use. With iMovie, you can drag photos and video into a new project, while adding overlapping text and audio to each slide accordingly. Once pulled into the project, you can move clips agreeing to their preferred order. You can adjust the duration of each photo slide, as well as alter the transitions of select videos. Here is a short YouTube video for iMovie beginners. Below is a list of steps, and here is another wikihow guide.

1. Plug the media you wish to use into your computer. (i.e. put DVD into disc drive, or insert thumb drive). Then scroll from “File”, to “Import Media”. From here, you’ll be able to select the media you want to include.
2. Import desired media.
3. Open iMovie.
4. Open a new project, and give your reel a title name.
5. Choose a template, similar to as you would in PowerPoint. This is your theme.
6. Drag your Legacybox movie clips and photos into the new iMovie project.
7. Once imported, drag all content into the timeline at the bottom of the screen. Here, you can put clips into order and make adjustments.
8. Optimize your video, by enhancing various elements such as sizing, image resolution and quality, contrast and more. You can add transitions, audio, and themes at this point. Scroll through the “Effects” menu for additional options.
9. Share on Facebook, YouTube or via email to friends and family!

PC COMPUTER INSTRUCTIONS

For PC computers, a great option would be to download Filmora from the Internet. This easy-to-use free download has been raved about as one of the greatest video editing software available through multiple reviews. With basic editing features, in addition to more advanced editing opportunities, this is a wonderful option for both beginners and experts.

1. Plug the media you wish to use into your computer. (i.e. put DVD disc into computer, or insert thumb drive). Then scroll from “File”, to “Import Media.” From here, you’ll be able to select the media you plan to use.
2. Select desired media for import.
3. Open Filmora.
4. Create a new project, and title the video.
5. Drag all imported media into the editing section of Filmora. From here, you can edit the duration of video clips, as well as crop or enhance any photographs.
6. Put the clips into preferred order.
7. Optimize your video by adding sounds, transitions, and effects.
8. Share on Facebook, Youtube, or via email to friends and family!

Another option that can be used on Mac would be to use Final Cut Pro. The steps are pretty much the exact same as with iMovie, but for specifics, view here. If you have Adobe Creative Suites, Adobe Premiere Pro is a great option for Mac or PC computers. That said, the entire creative suite is costly, and if you don’t already have the package or intend to do a lot of video and photo editing, then don’t spend the money. Lastly, if you’re interested in creating reels straight from your smartphone here are some of the best apps, according to AppCrawlr. Now it’s time to fluff up those bangs and dig up those coveted high tops. Gather around the fireplace with the kiddos and laugh at how goofy you looked when you were their age; grab a box of tissues and re-watch your granddaughter’s first steps; snuggle up with your hubby and relive your “I dos”; watch your granddad light up the room and remember how his life inspired you to be your best self. Whatever your story is, relish in every moment of every chapter. Its been said that “you only live once”, but sometimes you can actually live through something twice. And maybe even three, four, five, ten, fifty times!

DIY LED lighting | Construction portal

When you make an apartment renovation completely on your own, you can easily cope with such a creative process as creating a unique LED lighting. How to make LED backlighting yourself, is it possible and how simple – such questions arise before you. Due to the fact that plasterboard stretch ceilings are now being made, the installation of LED lighting has become possible in any apartment, as well as in any part of it: bedroom, kitchen or bathroom.You can even install it in your closet.

Contents

1. What is Led strip
2. LED backlight circuit
3. The order of your actions
4. LED ceiling lighting
5. LED kitchen lighting
6. Backlight in the car
7. Backlight LED panels

What is Led strip

What is a Led strip or LED strip? This is a flexible strip with an adhesive base on one side and LEDs and resistors on the other.The tape has multiple sections (5 cm), on which three LEDs and special marks are most often located, indicating where the tape can be cut. The LEDs in the tape are daisy chained. The tapes can be protected from environmental influences with plastic tubes or silicone, or they can be open, depending on the place of their use, the tape is also selected. The diodes used in the tape are of two types: SMD 3528 and 5060 (5050), the latter are more powerful and can be used as independent sources of room lighting.

If you use RGB tape for backlighting, then it is important to know that it has four outputs – for the main mass and one for each color: red, green and blue.

LED backlight circuit

If you need to illuminate a large area, then it is better to make tapes no more than 15 meters long, otherwise the lamps closest to the power source will burn out faster, since the voltage will be very strong at the beginning of the circuit.

The order of your actions:

1. Decide on the type of LED SMD 3528 or SMD 5050 – the latter will be more expensive, but their power is also higher.

2. Determine the required LED density. There are 30, 60, 120. The indicated number shows the number of LEDs per meter – the higher the number, the brighter the lighting will be.

3. Determine the type of tape. For example, IP 44 is waterproof. We decide on the adhesive side – you need it or not.
4. Color – one color or multicolor, the other requires a controller.

5. Calculations: we measure the perimeter of the area where the backlight will be located, we calculate the total area – we multiply the power consumption of one meter by the received footage.Based on the data obtained, we select the power supply and the controller.
6. Determine the option for the location of the backlight. Whether there are drywall protrusions or not is up to you.

7. Installation: cut the tape (there are special marks on it – where you can cut), solder single-color sections like “+” goes “-“, for a multicolor tape you need to solder the same sections with the letter designation “V +”, “R” , “G”, “B”. Remember that no more than 15 meters of tape can be connected to one power supply unit.
8. Connection. Check the polarity – there should be no errors! If the power cord is not connected in advance, then connect the cord to the L and N pins, then if you have a multicolor ribbon, connect the controller and only then connect the ribbon directly.

Most often, ceiling contour lighting is used, but other options are also possible. With the help of LED lamps and strips, you can advantageously delimit parts of a room or emphasize the color scheme of a room.For example, if your bedroom is made in deep blue colors, then the ceiling can be decorated with a pattern of LED lamps so that it will seem like a starry sky above your head. If two children live in the children’s room, then an interesting solution would be to lightly divide the room in such a way that each child has his own corner for work and sleep.

The advantages of LED backlighting are that it is easy to install, relatively inexpensive, lasts a long time and it has different colors.Whereas standard lighting appliances have only two options for warm light and cold. And if we talk about neon, then it is short-lived, difficult to install.

The color possibilities of LED luminaires are diverse – from one-color to RGB strips that can change color. If you do not have strong restrictions on money, then buy a full-color ribbon and a separate controller for it. When buying a tape, choose one in silicone insulation, if you are flooded by neighbors from above, then the wiring will be safe.As for the choice of a specific color, then it’s up to you: green is more pleasant for the eyes, but blue can be perceived incorrectly, sometimes even dim.

Illumination can be made in different versions – it can be LED illumination of a stretch ceiling, using a rigid module, spotlights can be used, as well as mini spotlights. Your imagination will tell you which of this is better to use, or maybe a comprehensive solution for all family members, because everyone wants to rebuild the world around him for himself, and even his own room, even more so.The main task when installing the backlight is that it should be invisible from below, therefore, in order to hide it, protrusions or cornices are used, while the distance also matters. So, if the distance is too large, the backlight will illuminate the niche itself more than the ceiling itself, and with a small one, the diodes themselves and the gaps between them, which are not illuminated, will be noticeable.

LED strip lighting is easier both in installation and in functionality – it can be installed where other lamps cannot cope.Even hard-to-reach places are not a hindrance for the tape.

LED ceiling lighting

First you need to create a design project, that is, a work plan and a drawing of the final result. It is important to correctly calculate how many lamps you need, in which specific places to place them, how many meters of LED strip you need, it is important to remember that it is most convenient to take the strip in multiples of 5 cm – at this distance you can place 3 LEDs. Then, after the calculations, you need to buy an LED backlight, a power supply for it, and if you buy a multicolor tape, then a controller for it.When everything is purchased, be sure to read the instructions. For the convenience of mounting the LED backlight, there is an adhesive layer on one of its sides. First, the attachment point must be cleaned and treated with an alcohol solution. Then remove the protective layer, press the tape to the attachment point and hold it for a while. If your tape must bend according to the project, then remember that the kinks should be more than 2 centimeters in diameter.

Depending on the country of the manufacturer, on the diodes used, as well as on the color, the price of LED backlighting will differ.

LED kitchen lighting

LED lighting in the kitchen is already becoming very fashionable and popular, with its help you can designate different zones, create coziness or intimate atmosphere for a pleasant evening. With the help of LEDs in the kitchen, you can illuminate niches, apron, cabinets from above or below. Nowadays, such lighting is used in bars, restaurants, as well as in hotels.

If you want to divide the space in the kitchen into a workspace and the rest, use different colors.For wooden furniture, you are better off using LEDs in warm shades of yellow and orange, if you have a high-tech kitchen, then blue or silver are more suitable for you. And the reception area can be equipped with a full-color tape with a controller.

You can also beautifully illuminate a bar counter or a glass cabinet with crystal – it will look just gorgeous and chic.

Backlight in the car

One of the latest innovations for a car is the installation of LED strips on it.At the same time, the car itself is illuminated from below, interior lighting or LED illumination of the instrument panel is made. Today, a large assortment of LED bulbs installed in the dashboard is sold – they consume little energy and at the same time are quite bright. Since there are more and more identical cars in the parking lot, equipping it with LEDs will help make your car unique, different from the rest. You can tune your car with both LED lamps and LED strips.An unusual solution may turn out to be the illumination of the car’s rims. Traditionally, the diodes are blue, but you can choose a different color, depending on the color of your car.

Backlight LED panels

In addition to LED strips, there are also LED panels – they are usually very thin (about 13-15 cm), have a variety of colors and dimensions. This novelty attracts the attention of designers, as it allows to solve such problems as, for example, too low ceilings.Or, if a bright color scheme for the walls is required, then the panels will simply help out, while the ribbons will be lost. This is a great solution for a children’s room, a restaurant, and a club setting, they can be used in offices and warehouses.

LED panels are designed for different uses, they are designed for mounting to concrete and brick walls or ceilings, they can be embedded in a false ceiling, or can be separately suspended with special fixtures.

You don’t have to worry about your eyesight – the light panels are absolutely safe for your eyes. As a rule, light panels have different intensity of illumination, which can be adjusted using a special remote control.

LED lighting fixtures from lamps and spotlights to panels and tapes are modern, stylish and non-standard. With the help of such lamps, you will make the design of your apartment, office, or car unforgettable and unique.You can also use LED lights to decorate various landscapes – in the design of hotels, amusement parks or even in the pool. You can install them both independently and by inviting specialists. In addition to beauty, LED lighting devices consume much less electricity, are high-tech and reliable products.

90,000 DIY LED lighting – various manufacturing options

The position of diode lighting in the electrical engineering market is gaining momentum.And this is no coincidence, because today it is the most energy-saving and environmentally friendly type of lighting. In addition, such elements on crystals give a wide range of imagination in interior design due to the assortment presented on the shelves, both in the varieties of LED devices and in colors.

How to make LED backlighting with your own hands? Or do you still have to seek help from a specialist to resolve this issue? You need to try to figure it out.

The main saving in the production of repairs is precisely not to overpay the hired workers, but to try to do the work that is possible on your own.

So, before making the backlight, you need to understand how LED lighting devices are divided and what types of them are.

Varieties of LED lighting fixtures

Devices made on the basis of LEDs can be either in the form of a familiar table lamp or an ordinary light bulb, or in the form of a luminous flexible tape or a transparent colored tube, inside which there is a chain of elements.Such a tube is called “duralight” and has little difference from the LED strip. It will be advisable to dwell on each of the options for their implementation.

Varieties of LEDs

• Conventional LEDs – have an elongated cylindrical shape and are marked as DIP. It is the first commercially available element based on a semiconductor. The rounded edge of the epoxy body acts as a lens that acts as a light guide. There can be from one to three crystals in such a device, while a similar LED, as well as its other types, can glow both in one color, and in two or three, respectively.
• LED strip is a more high-tech product based on surface mount elements – SMD. They are smaller and, unlike leg-mounted DIPs, are attached to the outside of the PCB, allowing for double-sided assembly. With the help of a layer of phosphor, the LED can be given the desired color.
• Duralight is a flexible tube, inside of which serial strings of LEDs are connected in parallel. Most often, such illumination is used when illuminating shop windows, in the role of garlands, but it can also be used in the design of multi-level ceilings.

An aluminum base can also be used as the basis for the crystals. These LEDs are labeled as COB (Chip-On-Board) and are the latest in this field. Due to the design of such chips, the light is distributed more evenly.

Existing designs of LEDs

The basis of operation of all LEDs, regardless of their type, is the principle of radiation generated by the element. Electricity, passing through a crystal consisting of different types of semiconductors, is converted into a visible luminous flux.The glow, in fact, is created due to the difference in the directionality of the conductivity of semiconductors.

For the same reason, the LED works only in one position of the polarities of the supplied voltage. And if an incandescent lamp can be connected by supplying “phase-zero” power in any position, then when a positive charge is applied to the “-” of the chip, there will be no glow. The LED component simply won’t work.

Mounting LED backlight

Having dealt with the types of LEDs and having decided which one is most suitable for backlighting, you can proceed directly to the installation.For ordinary apartments and private houses, the choice of LED strip will be optimal, since it is quite easy to install and at the same time meets all the requirements for multi-level lighting.

If the room has a large area, then the length of one piece of tape should not exceed 15 m. With a larger size, the base may not withstand the heating temperatures of the connecting wires as a result of exceeding the power consumption. In general, the best option would be to prepare parts of the LED strip 10 meters long, which will subsequently be connected to a dimmer or controller (when using the multicolor version) in parallel.

Marking the place of possible cutting of the LED strip

The main thing is that the light strip should not be cut where it is necessary. Places are marked on her canvas where such an action can be performed.

LED strip can be with an adhesive surface, then for installation you only need to peel off the protective film and press the strip to the desired surface. If you purchased a product without such a fastening element, then you must use double-sided tape.

Also, such strips can be different in the degree of moisture resistance (with and without silicone coating), in the strength of the luminous flux (it depends on the color temperature and power), as well as in density (30, 60, or 120 units per meter).

Most often, DIY LED lighting is performed in the form of contour lighting, although there are no restrictions on its use. With the help of such a product, it is possible not only to advantageously differentiate the premises into light zones, but also to emphasize the color scheme of the room.

It is possible to apply light patterns on the ceiling or create a starry sky over your head. In addition, when two children live in the same room, it will be interesting to differentiate the nursery into two zones in different colors, according to the colors that one or the other child likes.

A multicolor LED strip requires not only a stabilizing device, but also an RGB controller, which performs the function of a “brain” that controls the glow color.

Connecting RGB tape

When connecting an LED strip, it does not matter whether it is monochromatic or multi-colored, it follows the same principle. The only difference between the RGB strip is the presence of a controller and sometimes an amplifier in its power supply circuit. It is worth dwelling on these devices in more detail.

When connecting the power supply to the controller, there is no difference in actions with single-color tapes – the contacts are connected according to the polarity marking. A little more complicated is the controller and strip connection. Three wires here are responsible for colors, and the fourth for power:

1. B – blue shades;
2. R – red;
3. G – green;
4. V + – power supply.

In general, the connection will look like this:

Connecting the RGB controller

Just as when installing a single-color LED strip, when doing such work as installing LED backlighting with your own hands, you will need to divide the tape into segments.Only in the case of an RGB tape, you need to understand that the LEDs in it with a large consumption of electricity, and therefore it is necessary to include a signal amplifier in the circuit that regulates the strength of the luminous flux and allows the chips to glow evenly.

This device is connected to each additional section of the strip, and power is supplied from the unit, and it is better to install a separate stabilizing transformer on the amplifier, since the power reserve of the main power supply unit may not be enough.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Backlight

Of course, this kind of backlighting has many advantages.It is more economical in terms of energy consumption than other existing types of lighting, has a much longer service life, good heat transfer and efficiency. In addition, it is quite simple to install, which does not require special skills and great knowledge, and at the same time it is subject to repair when one or several chips burn out.

But still, some complain about the high cost that LEDs for lighting and equipment for them have. Although, if you think about it, the amount paid upon purchase will pay off for a short period of use, and the backlight itself will delight the eye, bring comfort to the room and make it extraordinary.

Illumination of the working area in the kitchen in 5 steps

Today
it is impossible to imagine any modern kitchen without functional lighting
working area.

If you
still think that only general light in the kitchen is enough for you, then you
deeply mistaken.

During the cooking process, you block the luminous flux from the lamps on the ceiling with any of your body and thereby shade the space. Therefore, the illumination of the kitchen work area should be present in the apartment of every good housewife.

Let’s figure out how to do it correctly and professionally, using the LED strip available to everyone.

The entire work can be broken down into 5 steps or steps:

• correct selection of materials

• installation or cut-in profile

• installation of LED strip

• power supply connection and wiring

• Hand wave sensor connection

Material selection

For mounting
such a backlight you will need the following materials and equipment:

• LED strip itself

Be sure to select models with a high CRI over 90%.Since in the future you will place it in a protective profile with frosted glass, you can take a non-sealed tape.

It
will significantly save you money, and high-quality sealed options are very
difficult to pick up.

All of them
after a year or two, they fade and become covered with a yellow bloom, significantly changing their
initial light.

It is required
to convert voltage 220V to 12 or 24V, from which it will be
connect led backlight.

What type to choose specifically, read below.

• aluminum profile

Without it, the tape quickly fails due to overheating. It is also very convenient to attach a diffuser to it for uniform illumination of the entire tabletop and protection from splashes.

• infrared hand sensor for contactless switching on and off the backlight

None
push-button switches are not advisable here. Just forget about them
Once and for all.

• hacksaw for metal + tape measure

• self-tapping screws + double-sided tape

• two-core copper wire 0.75mm2

Wires
it is better to use multi-colored ones.For example, red and black, so as not to accidentally
mix up the polarity plus and minus.

She plays an essential role here.

Which LED strip for the kitchen is better

Kitchen is
a place of cleanliness. It shouldn’t have any dark corners and shadows.

First
turn this applies to the working area. This is where the lighting should be most
high quality.

From this
the convenience of cooking and your health directly depends.

Optimal
working area illumination temperature – neutral, about 4000K.

However, in
In some cases, you can also choose a warm glow color. For example, for a kitchen from
natural wood.

But not too yellow. It may look beautiful in the dark, but the functionality and benefits of such lighting are zero.

Skipping a fish bone when cutting in this light is a trifling matter.

Also not
remember that RGB color lighting is used in the kitchen exclusively for
decorative purposes.

Therefore
here use a solid color tape with an even white light. The most popular
power – 14.4W per 1 running meter.

Most often
use SMD 5050 models.

Illumination
the work surface must be uniform and between 200 lux and
above.

Coefficient
color rendering CRI> 90. The higher this indicator, the more the light is closer to
natural daytime.

And this
especially important when preparing food and inspecting food.

Where to install the profile

The tape itself
fastened and inserted into a special profile.

Very many
for this, an angular version is used, which is placed at the end between the wall and
the bottom of the lockers.

However, not
forget one negative point of such backlighting. In this case, the light will
do not go straight down to the desktop, but often hit you in the eye.

Of course
standing in the immediate vicinity of the locker, you may not notice this, but
sitting at the kitchen table, facing such illumination, will be
not comfortable.

And if you have a studio apartment, then such a light will dazzle and annoy everyone present.

If at all
if you want to hide all the lighting and the protruding U-shaped profile, then use
mortise option.

Although it is more expensive, beauty always requires sacrifice.

By the way, it is better to place the U-shaped profile as close to the front side as possible.

The usual standard here is 1/4 of the distance from the edge.

Dimensions
select a profile based on the width of the LED strip.Top on such a profile
put on an overhead matte screen.

Fitting the kitchen lighting profile

So, the first
measure the total length of your working area with a tape measure and cut off according to these
the dimensions of the aluminum profile.

Don’t Forget
about the thickness of the plug, it must also be taken into account in the calculations.

Otherwise
the profile will look ugly beyond the plane of the kitchen cabinets.

Next, use self-tapping screws or double-sided tape to fix the profile to the bottom of the cabinets.

At the same time, note that it is necessary to fasten the profile through special clips.

They
provide the gap required to cool the widest part of the surface,
on which, in fact, the substrate of the LED strip is glued.

Screw the flat part tightly with self-tapping screws and you will automatically worsen the cooling of the LEDs, and therefore their service life.

For more details about all the nuances of choosing and working with such profiles, and believe me, there are a lot of them, read in a separate article.

Installation of LED strip

After
fastening the profile, go to the ice tape. Cut it to the desired length.

This is done
in special places marked with “scissors” or other similar
pattern. Where the contact pads are located.

If the tape is short, it can be extended by soldering.

Further, at
absence of the factory plug of the adapter, again solder two wires
feed to the beginning of the tape.

Just do not forget to pull them through the side plug beforehand.

There are plugs with factory holes for this case.

All soldering
do the work in advance, on the table, and not on the weight, when good contact with
lack of skill cannot be achieved.

Those who do not want to solder can use special connectors.

They are sold for mere pennies in hardware stores or on Ali.

At
certain refinement, these plastic gizmos can even be hidden inside
profile.

Otherwise, openly, all this will not look very aesthetically pleasing.

Wires
choose such a length that they are enough with a small margin to the place
placement of power supplies.

Next, carefully remove the self-adhesive backing from the Led strip.

For larger
reliability is still not worth 100% trust in these double-sided tapes.
Therefore, it never hurts to apply a few extra drops of glue to the
flat base of the profile.

At the same time,
forget to wipe and clean the surface thoroughly.

The best
glue option – in the form of a gel.

Just don’t try to use hot melt glue from a gun. Why, it is described in the article about the mistakes of the most popular ways of attaching the LED strip.

Wires
power supplies are output to the installation site of the unit from the infrared sensor and the source
power supply Led backlight.

Go to
connecting and assembling the entire circuit together.

Wiring diagram for the illumination of the working area in the kitchen

For power supply
LED strip in the kitchen, professionals recommend choosing sealed
units with a protection level of IP65-67, and not those with through holes in the case.

Although, if you place it on the very top of the cabinets, and not inside next to the dishes or hood, then there is not much difference.

True, be prepared for the dust, such a perforated thing will suck in good health.

And this will certainly affect its performance.

When placing in a cabinet, secure all units to the wall, as far as possible from foreign objects.

Power must be selected based on the connected length of the LED strip and its brand.There is a universal calculation formula.

Per block
the power supply starts up a phase and zero from a common 220V network.

Take them
you can from the nearest junction box, hiding the wires in the cable channel.

Alternatively, use the top outlet from which the cooker hood is connected.

Simple
insert a tee there and a plug on the block is already in it.

In the most extreme case, if you have no place to get 220V at all, and you are reluctant to spoil the walls with ugly cable channels, you can try to power all the backlight from the 18650 battery pack.

True Led strip in this case should be short and minimum power.

Further, voltage 12 or 24V must be supplied to the block from the infrared sensor. These are the terminals.

Since this
you have a “wet zone”, then the infrared sensor, which works according to the principle
wave of your hand, it is better to choose a low voltage of 12V, not 220V.

More details

However, most people still use standard line voltage models. They are more powerful and more common.

More details

In addition, by mounting them in front of the LED strip power supply, you will thus turn on this unit only for a certain time. That is, it will not work for you and is energized 24 hours a day.

3 options for handwave sensor installation

Drill a neat hole under the sensor in the cabinet, insert it there, and bring the connectors from the wires inside.

Sometimes people
when ordering kitchen sets, a small visor is used from the bottom of the cabinets.

In this case, you don’t even have to drill anything to fix the sensor. Take a piece of polypropylene pipe d-15-20mm and cut a small slot in it.

After that
a section of the tube is attached to the chipboard with a self-tapping screw, and the IR sensor is already inserted into it.

Another installation method that can be used at an early stage in the design of the kitchen and the selection of the location of all the outlets is to rework the television outlet.

Choose in advance a place where you will have such a socket with a sensor and start the wiring there.

After that, throw out all the insides from the standard TV socket housing and insert the IR sensor instead.

Usually perfect. After that, mount such an outlet into the wall.

As a result,
there will be a minimum of wires in the lockers. True, this method is needed
plan ahead. In the finished kitchen, you are unlikely to turn such a trick.
work out.

About
false alarms of IR sensors do not worry. They work when approaching
object or hand at a distance of 7cm.

So
a cat that accidentally climbed on the table and walked past it in the middle of the night, nothing
will include. Although, of course, he can get it with his tail.

Connection and wiring

The main problem and headache is how to lay the wires and where to hide them.

As a rule, there is always a small gap and some space between the wall and the kitchen unit.

You can go there
push the most dangerous 220V wire from the outlet.

Rest
low voltage wiring 12-24V, place on the side walls inside
lockers. In some cases, they can even be hidden in technological
shelf holders grooves.

Well, or
just close the narrow cable with a duct.

Final
wiring diagram for the entire illumination of the working area using an IR sensor
“wave of the hand” will look like this.

For sensor
12-24V:

For
voltage 220V:

By the way, quite a long time ago Ali had slightly different motion sensors and dimmers of this design.

They are perfect
suitable for insertion into the profile itself. At the same time, drill nothing in the cabinets,
spoiling the wood is no longer necessary.

Install
directly in front of the LED strip and control it in the same way
backlit with a wave of the hand. No additional blocks and wires.

You can order it from the Chinese here.

How to make your own ceiling lighting with LED strip?

Home / Lighting / Diode and LED lighting / How to make your own ceiling lighting with LED strip?

Often, when constructing a plasterboard ceiling structure or installing stretch coverings, a decorative element such as LED ceiling lighting is used.This is a very popular and not too expensive way to decorate a room. In most cases, the installation is carried out simultaneously with the installation of the ceiling coverings themselves, but you can install it after. Moreover, this work can be done with your own hands.

Complete sets and individual components

The easiest option is to purchase a ready-made kit. It includes everything you might need during installation. There is also a tape itself with diodes of the required length, and a power supply, and a controller, if a set with variable glow colors was bought.The only thing you need to do is connect several connectors and glue the circuit elements in place. Along the way, power supplies with controllers are also installed.

It is much more difficult, but also a little more interesting, to assemble a complete system from separate parts. In stores, you can buy LED strips of different powers and lengths. As a standard, the length of one reel of diodes is equal to five meters. You can connect several identical segments into one scheme.

Next, you need a transformer.It must be more powerful than the amount of power consumed by the diodes. That is, the power output to them should not only be more than that consumed by the chips, but also the margin should remain. The size of such a power reserve should be approximately 20 percent.

The last thing that may be needed, apart from tools, will be a wire of a suitable cross-section. Since the voltage will not be too high, you can purchase any wires recommended by the manager.

What you need from the tools

Even the most inexperienced master can handle self-assembly.For work you need a minimum of tools:

• Soldering iron 25 watt
• Tweezers to hold wires
• Solder
• Flux or rosin

This is what you need for soldering contacts and wires. If you purchased a ready-made backlight kit, then you don’t have to solder anything. And you just need to choose an installation location and mount the existing blocks in place.

If you are assembling the backlight from separately purchased parts, then you will need to solder two or four wires to the contact pad and connect them to the power supply.

But, on this, the list of what you may need is not complete. You need to stock up on a special building hairdryer and a heat shrink tube, which you will need to make modifications to the original backlight components sold in stores.

Modifications

For some reason, it is not at all surprising that the tape sold in stores and the rest of the circuit components require minor modifications. In the power supply unit and controllers, usually, no serious intervention is required – except that the mounting holes are not always conveniently located, but the strip with the chips will require revision.

It is not recommended to use the tapes in the form in which they are sold. You’re in luck if the wires soldered to the terminal block don’t look like this:

In most cases, everything will be exactly as in the picture. The contacts at the junction with the board will break off quickly enough, if at all, they will survive the installation. Intervention is required, in the form of a nozzle from a heat-shrinkable tube and the installation of special tips.

This conversion is sufficient if the length of the existing wiring is acceptable.But, as a rule, the situation is even more complicated – you have to completely unsolder the existing ones and attach new ones.

Power calculation and installation

Illumination of the ceiling with an LED strip, even if it is modified with your own hands, will not shine normally without a transformer of a suitable power. It must be selected based on the total power consumed by the diodes, plus a margin of 20 percent.

When all the parts are purchased and brought to normal working condition, you need to assemble the entire circuit without re-installation.This will allow you to check its performance and change anything without dismantling.

If everything works, you can start editing. For this, most often, double-sided tape is used. If necessary, it will allow you to quickly dismantle the installed backlight. It is best to install the power supply and the glow controller in a special niche or provide a hatch in the ceiling covering for quick access to these system elements.

How to make the lighting in the ceiling correctly

illumination of the ceiling gives originality and uniqueness to the design of the room

When the ceiling radiates light, a unique aura of comfort is created in the room.LED lamps give a beautiful, flicker-free light. These unusual “design finds” are found in a large number of variants. They contribute to the creation of additional room volume. And also plasterboard, one- and two-level stretch ceilings with illumination look visually “weightless”.

About the features of illuminated ceiling lights

linear luminaires in ceiling design

LED ceiling lamps with illumination are used for decoration, and also it can:

1. Visually make the room bigger.
2. Give a gentle diffused glow. When the residents of the house are watching their favorite programs on TV, or getting ready for bed, this light will not distract them.

Before installing luminaires in the interior, you need to know that this system will take about 10-15 centimeters of the room’s height. When planning a backlit ceiling design, these nuances will need to be taken into account . You should use the recommendations that will be discussed in this article. Then you can do everything competently.

Tips for installing a backlight in a room

distribution of luminaires in the coffered ceiling

“In the rooms, the ceiling with illumination around the perimeter is usually more appropriate, for which they use LED strip”

1. When the ceiling frame is being installed, at this stage it is necessary to provide for the installation of the backlight. This will make it possible to hide electrical wiring, space for lighting fixtures, etc.d.
2. Usually, stretch ceilings, rack and plasterboard ceilings are made in several tiers. At the same time, complex geometric shapes are used to make the ceilings look spectacular. In this case, you can afford to experiment. Only you can decide which of the methods to use to decorate the ceiling.
3. Multilevel plasterboard structures allow the use of different types of lighting. For example, a starry sky is made in the center, and halogen backlighting

around the edges.

4. When it comes to tension structures, keep in mind that they are unique in their own way.In rooms, a ceiling with perimeter illumination is usually more appropriate, for which an LED strip is used. We must not forget that different textures may not have the effect that the homeowner expects.
5. Stretch ceilings have a serious disadvantage. Only bulbs of a certain power are allowed to be mounted on them.
6. In order to visually make the space larger, the backlight is hidden in niches and recesses on the surface of the ceiling.
7. When the interior has a modest color scheme, then with the help of evening ceiling lighting, you can make it more interesting.
8. If you are strapped for funds, and you want to make a spectacular ceiling, it is advisable to buy a plinth for the ceiling and install LEDs in it.

About ceiling lighting options

ceiling lighting around the perimeter of the room

Currently, companies produce lighting devices in a very large assortment. With their help, the room will not only be well lit, but can also change dramatically.

High-demand backlit ceiling designs:

1. Ceiling with perimeter illumination with LED strips.When the designs are multi-level, this technique will focus on a particular tier, or highlight geometric shapes.
2. Installation of spotlights is made randomly, or the bulbs are mounted evenly in the ceiling system.
3. The appearance of the housing is changed with the help of neon bulbs. A distinctive feature is a long term of use.

use of spotlights

In addition, the backlight can be:

1. Target.It is used when there is a need to visually zone the space. For example, make sure that the work surface or dining table in the kitchen is illuminated.
2. General. This is the main coverage. In this case, point LEDs are mounted.
3. Designer. This option will not provide powerful artificial light, but it will be cozy and comfortable to be in such a room. We are talking about luminous patterns or lighting around the perimeter.

To select a suitable option, you need to determine where to place the backlight, what should be the brightness.It is imperative to remember about the general style of the room. See how the backlit ceiling design looks like in the photo below.

On perimeter ceiling lighting using LED strip

What to consider when buying

neon lighting in the interior

When you have to choose an LED strip, you must take into account the following criteria:

1. How close the LEDs are to each other.
2. How much energy the product consumes.
3. How protected is the product from moisture ingress.

In shops and markets, LED strips are available in different color variations. By shades they are:

1. Monochrome – (when there is only one color).
2. Universal or RGB stripes. They are presented in different colors, and are found in the following colors: red, blue, green. RGB tapes also glow with white (complementary) color.

hidden ceiling lighting

The cost of these products is approximately the same.It is advisable to give preference to RGBW. These diodes have a special controller in the kit. It makes it possible to adjust the shades and the level of glow intensity.

LED strips for backlighting may differ in how close the diode bulbs are: from 30 to 120 pcs. 1 meter. If you are installing a single-level stretch ceiling with illumination, you need to purchase LED – a tape in which the diodes are located as close as possible to each other .

For a source of directional lighting, tapes with a smaller distance between the light elements are used.

placement of luminaires in a slatted ceiling

The brightness of glowing semiconductors depends on the energy consumed. The models “SMD 5050” and “SMD 3528” have proven themselves well. The first consumes 4.8 W / m, with 60 pieces of LED-lamps per 1 meter of strips. The second consumes 14.4 W / m, with the same number of bulbs.

Very often LED lamps are used to illuminate the ceiling in the bathroom. In this case, preference should be given to strips that have additional protection against moisture. The cost of these products will depend on the degree of protection against moisture.

About LED backlight placement options

backlight can be placed in niche

In various places of the suspension system, LED backlights are mounted.Most often, it is located in places such as:

1. Niche. As you can clearly see in the photo, illuminated plaster ceilings in a niche give the impression that the light source is “hanging” in the air. Typically, niches are made in structures specifically to decorate them with LED lamps. When the LEDs are turned upward, they will emit a gentle, diffused light. If you apply side lighting, the light will be directed along the “weightless” ceiling system.
2. Center of the false ceiling.The tapes are installed on a platform located between the rough ceiling and a half-transparent film canvas. Thanks to this design, the glow will be soft and diffused, and the ceiling will seem to be “glowing from the inside”.
3. Behind the cornice. Many people like this method because of its ease and accessibility. This option provides for the installation of tension or suspension systems. The cornice is attached to the wall, and the LED strip is laid around the perimeter. The result is a backlit ceiling molding.

About Neon Ceiling Light

Distinctive features

neon lighting should match the overall design of the room

In the “classic” version, the neon illumination is made of glass bulbs, inside of which there is an inert gas – neon. The surface of these tubes is coated from the inside with a special powder – phosphor. It glows when energized. Since neon ceiling lighting requires high voltage, you need to take care of installing a special current regulator.

One device is placed at 7 meters of the perimeter. The places where the control devices are placed must be determined in advance when the ceilings are being installed. As a rule, a place for niches is provided in a concrete floor. This is where the converters need to be installed.

neon blue suitable for both compact and spacious rooms

Neon lighting has special features:

1. These options are used when there is a need to decorate a room aesthetically, tastefully, regardless of costs – for example, when it comes to lighting on the ceiling in a hall.The product does not emit bright light, and it consumes a lot of electricity. A wide range of colors will complement the overall style of the room.
2. The service life of a high-quality product is 10-15 years.
3. Luminaires of this type have a diameter of 1.5 cm.
4. When LED lamps are heated, their temperature still remains below 40 degrees Celsius, so neon lighting is often used when installing backlit bunk stretch ceilings.
5. The device practically does not make noise during operation.
6. The places where the elements come into contact with each other do not interrupt the lighting circuit. This gives a uniform, uninterrupted glow.
7. Sometimes a ceiling design with lighting such as in the photo below is made out using a neon cord. Since it is flexible, it makes installation easier. The device lights up in the same way as the lamps. But there is a drawback – the high cost.
8. Often the preference is given to “hidden” neon illumination. The product is installed in veiled niches.There is a regularity: the smaller the hole for the artificial illumination, the brighter the luminous strip will be.
9. Using neon, they focus on one piece of furniture, or decorative elements. This will serve as a beautiful addition to the overall design of the apartment (or house). The room will look cozy and inviting.

How to install neon lights

turquoise neon lighting in the bathroom interior

As soon as the required option is selected, the installation work begins.Before installing the neon lights, be sure to change the wiring that goes to the device from the switch. First, they gouge the wall to lay a new cable. Later, the cracks can be filled and smoothed over the surface of the walls. So, before installing the ceiling and general repair of the room, it is necessary to designate the location of the lighting devices and bring the wires.

For neon lighting on the ceiling, you need a special plasterboard box, in which it is laid. The second option is a backlit ceiling molding.The first method is used when performing rough or finishing of walls and ceilings.

placement of spotlights in a modern bedroom

Lighting in the baguette is laid at the final stage of repair work, when the ceiling surface is being finished. To create a contoured neon lighting design, a small ledge is attached to the plane of the cornice. To create a diffuse glow, you do not need to install the board on the eaves.

When carrying out these works, you should take a large baguette. This is due to the fact that it is quite problematic to mount transformers in narrow parts. If you want to keep finishing work to a minimum, you can simply insert the transformer into the wall niche.

As a rule, neon lamps are sold as a set. It provides for the presence of: circuits, LED-element, cords, fasteners. This makes the connection “hassle free”.

About spotlights

How to correctly position the device

use of 6 built-in lamps for good lighting of the dining area

In addition to the requirements for power and light, it is necessary, according to the rules, to place the product on the surface of the ceiling.

Using group lighting, the room is zoned. As a rule, this option is combined with the main light source – a chandelier. For example, in the lighting in the kitchen on the ceiling, this combination is often used.

Fasteners of lighting elements

combination of ceiling chandelier, LED strip and spotlights for living room lighting

Before purchasing the luminaires, you need to determine their location.The following characteristics must be adhered to:

• type of light source, its luminous power, performance;
• type of ceiling covering;
• installation method.

original ceiling in the form of broken lines with integrated lighting from LED strips

When installing spot lighting it is necessary: ​​

1. At the stage of assembling the frame, you need to lay the wiring and bring it to the places where the fixtures are installed.
2. Lay the wires in special boxes to protect the electrical wiring from water ingress. They should be fixed with dielectric materials.
3. It is necessary to make the required number of holes in the finished ceiling covering. They must match the size and configuration of the luminaires.
4. Next, drywall is attached to the profiles and lighting elements are installed.

If the ceilings are stretched, the installation of lighting devices is carried out after the canvas is fixed.But at the stage of assembling the frame, all electrical work must be carried out. We are talking about the installation of sites, power supply, etc.

LED strip for two-level stretch ceiling with backlight

“The illumination of a two-level stretch ceiling with LED tape has only one” minus “: the picture on the ceiling remains the same all the time”

led strip will emphasize the beauty of the stretch ceiling

Most often, stretch ceilings with a built-in LED strip are made in children’s bedrooms.Young people also prefer such ceilings.

There are many more positive aspects to this lighting method than negative ones:

1. LED strips, which are used to illuminate bunk stretch ceilings, consume less electricity than traditional incandescent lamps.
2. This lighting system has a fairly long lifespan.
3. Thanks to its application, the interior can be made original and beautiful.
4. This system can replace a night light.
5. It is possible to set the backlight of the required brightness.
6. LED lamps have a wide range of light shades, from cold to warm.
7. LEDs of various colors are placed on the surface of stretch ceilings and along their perimeter.

illumination of a two-level ceiling

The illumination of a two-level stretch ceiling with an LED strip has only one “minus”. It is that the picture on the ceiling remains the same all the time.The homeowner can get bored with it.

Young people like to create unusual light configurations on ceilings. Color music is also popular for merry holidays.

LED strips are durable and economical in operation

Semiconductor illumination will be irreplaceable in the children’s room. As you know, small children are afraid to fall asleep without light. But the inclusion of a conventional light source leads to high costs of electricity.On the ceiling, you can make scenes from your favorite cartoons using LEDs. The kid will study the starry sky, or look at cartoon characters. Parents will be doubly calm. Their child will fall asleep calmly, and the power consumption will be minimal. For a month of operation of LED lamps, you can see how economical the use of semiconductor lamps is.

About the installation of lighting devices on a stretch ceiling

tape is always attached to the perimeter of the ceiling

Do you want to create a calm atmosphere in the room? Make a stretch ceiling and install soft lighting around its perimeter.After a hard day, as a rule, the human body needs rest. Especially eyes get tired. That is why the best option for lighting is to fix the LED strip around the perimeter. This source of glow will not get bored, will always be in fashion, and it is not difficult to change ribbons.

When the backlight is installed, the LED strip is hidden. There is a special baguette for this.

chandelier and spotlights in a classic living room

What is installation? LED strips are installed at a level slightly below the ceiling of the tension structure.Lighting devices are masked using a special baguette. A tiered ceiling will be created. Drywall is attached along the perimeter, inside which an LED strip is hidden. It makes no sense to make a glossy stretch ceiling. Then the plasterboard structure and LED strips will be mirrored in gloss. The appearance of the interior, from this, will lose.

You shouldn’t expect full lighting from LEDs. This means that you need to take care of the chandelier before installing the stretch ceiling lighting.

LED strip hiding behind the molding

Stretch ceiling lighting is used in rooms such as the kitchen and living room. When the whole family wants to watch a movie in the evening, the main lighting can get in the way. Leave the LEDs on and turn off the main light source. This allows all family members to relax and unwind. Even ophthalmologists do not recommend watching TV without light. And the eyes do not rest when the chandelier is shining. To create a cozy atmosphere, the brightness of the light can be adjusted.

Backlit plasterboard ceiling

If you want to install lighting in a plasterboard ceiling, you need to know that there will be no bright light. This is one of the methods for decorating a room. Plasterboard ceiling is often used in the kitchen with lighting .

using LED strip to illuminate a matte stretch ceiling

The glow will be diffused, and at first the stream of light will go to the ceiling, and only then into the room.This illumination cannot add anything to the general light in the room. With its help, the ceiling is visually made larger. In order for the room to be well lit, lighting devices will need to be installed. They can be either on the wall or on the ceiling.

Using different light sources, make a backlight. In recent years, three types are most often used:

• LED strip;
• duralight;
• neon bulbs.

About LED strips and duralite

ceiling with LED lighting in combination with a volumetric chandelier looks gorgeous

The series of series-mounted lighting elements have their own special feature.They need 12 Volts or 24 Volts to power them. This voltage will be if you use a transformer. It can change the standard voltage of 220 volts to a lower one. Glow ribbons are designed in different colors (white, blue, green, red). These ribbons are considered monochrome. When they are marked, they put the designation SMD or RGB (universal).

Monochrome has only one color. But the universal ones have a peculiarity – they can change color. The operation of RGB tapes implies the presence of a controller and a control panel.If you send a command from the control panel, the shade of the glow will change. Shades by quantity. There are tens and hundreds. Some models can change the brightness of the light.

living room lighting option

According to the type of production, LED strips are divided into types. It is:

1. About ordinary. There is no protective coating in them. This means that they can be used in those rooms where there is no moisture.
2. About waterproof.The surface of these products is varnished. They are used when it is necessary to install lighting in a bathroom or kitchen.
3. About moisture resistant. They are located in the polymer pipe (sealed there). They are called duralight or body. Usually, they are rarely used to illuminate a room. Usually, they are installed in places of high humidity. These are aquariums, pools, etc.

Illuminated ceiling beams

“Spotlights are a great option for illuminating a ceiling with beams”

spotlights for lighting a slatted ceiling

Whatever the beams on the ceiling (load-bearing or aesthetic), they are very often used as an interior decoration detail.Often, beams are used in chalet houses or cottages. There they look harmoniously. If the ceiling is decorated in this way, the question arises about the choice of lighting. Let’s take a look at the characteristics of luminaires that are suitable for a beam on a backlit ceiling.

1. If the light level is sufficient. These beams are often used for large rooms with high ceilings. This means that the impressive volume of the area needs good lighting. The presence of the main light source is a prerequisite.We are talking about massive chandeliers and pendant lights. In addition, additional light sources are needed. These are floor lamps, wall sconces, table lamps.
2. Less Shadow: It’s worth keeping in mind that when using artificial lighting, the beams will also create shadow. It is advised to mount several LED lamps on the ceiling. If you alternate them with beams, the room will be cozy.
3. Discreet luminaires: since the beams immediately attract attention, having bright luminaires next to them is not a good solution.A good option is to install LED strips or spotlights.
4. Uniform distribution: if there are beams in the room, it is important that the light is evenly distributed. The corners should not be dark or too light. That is why in spacious rooms it is necessary to install not one, but several lamps on the ceiling. Dark corners can be well illuminated using floor lamps.
5. Proximity light: Spotlights are a great option for illuminating beamed ceilings. But you need to additionally install lamps in the area of ​​the sofa and dining table.Then the illumination level will be optimal.

Conclusion

original ceiling lighting in a country house

When you have to arrange a home, you need to remember that the backlight, first of all, performs a decorating function. Before doing it, it makes sense to look at the possible design options for lighting on the ceiling on different sites. If you choose the wrong way, the structure will look “weighted”.It is especially important to think it over when you have to deal with a multi-level harness.

Author: Natalia Kalinina

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Articles »How to make LED backlighting

LED backlighting is energy efficient and reliable, it adds volume to the room and can make a low ceiling visually higher.The backlight in the form of an LED strip is easy to install, it is cut into pieces and has many colors and shades. There are several types of LED strip lighting that serve different purposes.

Cornice lighting

One of the simplest and most effective ways to install LED backlighting is by eaves. Cornices are mounted around the perimeter of the room at a short distance from the ceiling. LED strip is glued behind them. The best effect is obtained when the tape is adhered to the wall at the level of the upper edge of the eaves.With this arrangement, the luminous flux is used most efficiently, there are no shadows on the ceiling, the LEDs are not visible from anywhere in the room, and dust is not deposited on them.

The best curtain rods for LED lighting are made of polyurethane. Gypsum cornices are heavy and fragile, and styrofoam cornices are poorly processed and can show through. The cornice should be large enough to hide the wires and place the equipment inside.

It is recommended to leave a gap of at least 50 mm between the ceiling and the upper edge of the cornice – this will make the ceiling appear higher visually.The best effect can be achieved if the cornice and the entire cornice space are evenly painted with matt white paint.

Illumination of multilevel plasterboard ceilings

LED lighting favorably emphasizes the volume and originality of the multilevel ceiling shape. LED strip, power supplies, controllers and all connecting wires are placed inside the plasterboard structure. Aluminum profiles for installation in plasterboard ceilings allow a variety of lighting options.

Stained glass lighting

A white stretch ceiling, a ceiling with a pattern or a stained-glass window made of acrylic, glass or other transparent materials with a pattern can be used as a stained glass window.

There are two ways to highlight stretch ceilings – outside and inside. In the first case, the lighting is performed in the same way as the usual eaves lighting, but at the same time there is no need to carry out work on leveling the ceiling using plaster and putty.In the second, the LED strip is glued in rows to the main ceiling over the entire surface. In this case, the main ceiling must be leveled, primed and painted over with white matte paint. It should be borne in mind that particles of debris should not fall from the main ceiling onto the decorative ceiling, otherwise they will give a shadow when illuminated. To avoid this, sometimes they make a double stretch ceiling.

Backlight

With backlighting, the LEDs are hidden from view, and the illuminated object acquires a luminous halo.This type is often used in advertising to highlight signs and letters.

Backlighting is also used in interior lighting, when the light is directed not to the center of the room, but to the wall. The cornice for it is installed at a small (about 50 mm) distance from the walls. This lighting creates the effect of a ceiling “floating” in the air. In a similar way, illumination is made for mirrors located at some distance from the wall.

Accent lighting

Accent lighting is used to highlight individual interior elements using directional light sources: LED spots, track lights and floodlights.

Track lights are mounted on a rod, along which they can freely move and change the direction of the glow for accent lighting of shop windows and display stands in stores and at exhibitions.

For external illumination of buildings, architectural objects and landscape elements, LED floodlights are used, protected from moisture and dust.

Accent lighting of free-standing small objects – trees, monuments and advertising banners – is done using small LED floodlights with a wide illumination angle.

For light accentuation of large objects, for example, massive advertising structures, architectural forms and building facades, linear LED floodlights are used.

Decorative lighting for walls and ceilings

With the help of aluminum profiles and frosted screens that diffuse light, they make “light lines” popular among modern designers, with the help of which you can create any pattern from a continuous path of light on the ceiling or wall. Profiles are produced in surface-mounted, built-in, suspended and angular variations.

Lighting for floors, stairs and handrails

Illumination of floors and stairs not only enlivens the interior of the room, but also increases its safety – if the illumination is switched on in the night mode, you can move around the house without fear of tripping or stumbling. LED floor lighting is built into the skirting board, staircase lighting is integrated into the steps. There is a variant of the aluminum profile, which is installed in the handrail from the bottom side and illuminates the steps of the stairs.

Kitchen lighting

To illuminate kitchen work surfaces, the LED strip is mounted on the underside of the hanging cabinets.It is better to install it in an aluminum profile with a matte diffusing screen. It can smooth out the bright spots of the LEDs and protect the tape from splashing water and grease.

It is recommended to use a waterproof LED strip with a protection class of at least IP65 in the kitchen. This tape is coated on one side with a layer of silicone. It is necessary to place the tape closer to the front edge of the hanging cabinets – this way it will be approximately above the middle line of the working area and will better illuminate the surface.

Another way to make lighting in the kitchen is to use a round profile in the form of a railing. You can hang various kitchen utensils on it and use it as a lamp.

If you equip the kitchen lighting with a proximity switch with a motion sensor, you will not have to touch the switch with wet hands.

Lighting for cabinets and other furniture

Interior lighting of furniture and decorative lighting of shelves and cabinets is another area where LED strip is used.

An aluminum profile is produced for installation in wooden furniture and for lighting glass shelves and doors. It is convenient to use a narrow LED strip with a width of 5 mm for end-illumination of glasses.

When lighting the interior of the cabinets, switches are used that automatically turn on the light when the door is opened.

How to make LED bed lighting? : Methods and recommendations ..

Added: 6 March 2019 – admin

How to make an LED bed light?

One of the ways to decorate the bedroom and children’s room is to create a hidden LED bed light.For this, usually, they use LED strip or duralight, which are mounted around the perimeter of the bed. We offer you a couple of ideas on how to make LED bed lighting with your own hands.

So how do you make a bed light?

First method – LED strip

It is best to connect a single-color or multi-color LED strip at the bottom along the perimeter of the bed. If you choose the first method, then you only need a strip with diodes and a good power supply.

And if the second, you will need to buy an RGB controller and a remote control to select the backlight color.

So, to make LED bed lighting, you need:

1. Choose the desired length of LED strip (around the perimeter of your bed).
2. Also find a suitable power supply, the power of which should be greater by 20-30% of the total power of the LED strips.
3. In addition, take a two-wire 1.5 mm² wire, a microswitch, plastic clamps for mounting the lighting under the bed and a soldering iron.
4. Determine the option of connecting the tape to the network.
5. Determine the exact location of the power supply unit and tape under the bed.
6. For example, install the illumination at the bottom of the sidewalls. It is better to attach the power supply unit under one of the lamellas using a clamp.
7. Degrease the part of the bed to which the tape will be attached.
8. According to the diagrams, you need to solder all the parts into one circuit.
9. Connect the microswitch to the power supply and place it in a convenient place, for example, near the headboard.
10. Check if the connection is correct, turn on the LED backlight.

Second way – Duralight

Another method by which to make LED bed lighting with your own hands is to connect along the duralight contour.