Whether you're looking to buy one or you currently own one, you may be curious about the effect ring lights can have on your eyes - will they hurt? Are they harmful?
After all, you probably already know how damaging looking into the sun is - and these lighting rings are marketed as "the spectrum & light intensity of the sun, harnessed in your home or salon".
Can ring lights hurt your eyes?
Today, we're going to take a look into some research covering the effects of LED lighting on your eyes. We'll explain why these are actually perfectly safe for your vision, and how to go about using yours safely and effectively.
Before we get into the topic at hand though, we want to explain exactly what a ring light is - because we have seen some confusion on this topic in the past.
A ring light is specifically used to eliminate shadows on a subject and make it pop. These are most commonly used in photography/videography or beauty salons.
They feature LED lights - arranged in a circle with the middle cleared out. This casts an even, uniform light on your subject.
People who need one of these can range from professional photographers to influencers & vloggers, all the way to professional estheticians & casual beauty queens.
No matter which of these buckets you fall into - you need one of these ring lights to produce your best work.
But are they safe? We totally understand the need to know how these affect your eyes - whether you're the one sitting in front of it or your clients are.
Let's get into the matter at hand.
The truth is that some people are more sensitive to blue light than others - which is the type of LED lighting you'll get in a ring light. But, even these groups will usually be able to use a ring light without harming their vision.
With that said - this depends on how long you're using the light, and if you're sitting directly in front of it or not.
If you're a photographer or videographer, you'll never really experience any eye strain from the ring light. That's because, with photography or videography, you're not in front of the lighting source itself.
Most often, you're behind it, with your camera positioned within the ring. After all, your subject is what needs to be illuminated in photography - not the photographer!
This is true for those who shoot videos through a ring light, too. With all this said, photography and videography are only two instances in which a ring light is necessary.
If you are in front of your ring light - especially for prolonged periods - then you may develop eye strains and headaches.
This is an issue with sensitivity to blue light. First, your eyes will start to feel tired and sore, and then, you'll notice you have a headache. The two are most often related.
Does this mean you have to choose between sore eyes and perfect lighting?
No!
We'll explain how you can use a ring light without hurting your eyes now.
For one - limiting your time in front of the ring light will go a long way. Once you feel your eyes are becoming sore from the light, take a break.
Most of the time people complain about ring lights causing eye strain, it's vloggers and streamers spending way too long staring into a bright blue light.
Aside from limiting your time in front of the blue light, is there anything you can do to
Another factor that goes into whether or not ring lights are safe for your eyes or not has to do with how close you are to them.
Just like sitting too close to your TV or desktop monitor, sitting too close to your ring light will exacerbate any eye strain you may deal with.
So, be sure to sit at least 2' away from your ring light. Of course, this is a balancing act - as the further away you are from your ring light, the less effective it will be. But, your vision comes first, above all else!
Another thing you can try is to adjust the angle of your ring light in relation to you - this is specifically going to help vloggers & streamers.
If you're sitting head-on staring at the light, you're putting yourself at a heightened risk of eye strain, or worse, vision impairment.
Instead, try angling it so that you can only see it in your peripheral vision - this may just do the trick to protect your vision while still casting a nice, even light on yourself.
One tip worth giving a try - particularly for vloggers or streamers who sit in front of a ring light at their desk - is to turn it around reflect it off your wall.
Of course, this tactic really only works if you have a powerful enough LED light, and sit close to your wall.
It really won't be too effective if you have a dark wall - this works best with white walls, the lighter the better.
With an ultra-bright LED ring light, you'll find that the reflection of your light against the wall is usually enough while streaming or vlogging. Give this a try and see if it solves your issue!
If you have no choice but to sit in front of your ring light and find that reflecting it is ineffective - you have one final option.
You can try diffusing your ring light using either an included filter or putting a piece of paper over the light itself.
This will dim the light down for you, getting it to a more manageable level. But a more permanent fix is to find a better ring light, one that features or includes diffusers built specifically for that light.
If you have a higher-end ring light, you are far less likely to deal with eye strain. That's because you can power your light down, dimming it to a more manageable level.
Furthermore, these ring lights will come with filters to change the specific lighting color. Because a cool, blue light is the most harmful to your eyes, you can fix this issue by adjusting a warmer color temperature.
Before we wrap this article up, we want to take a moment to touch on the importance of using a quality ring light in order to keep your eyes safe.
Not all of these lighting rings are created equal - some use cheap, harmful bulbs with poor-quality lenses. This leads to an increased strain on your eyes as you sit in front of the light.
To stay safe, we encourage you to do your due diligence and read the reviews on any ring light before purchasing.
If you're looking for recommendations, though - you can't go wrong with any of the ring lights at Luvo.
Many of these have dimming capabilities and implement a premium LED light source with plenty of color temperature options.
You'll be able to tone down the intensity while you're sitting in front of the LED light, and just the brightness away from blue and towards warmer colors.
If you've used other ring lights in the past, you're going to be blown away by the Luvo difference.
This means you won't have to compromise your eye health while achieving visual perfection - either while you do makeup or shoot photos or videos!
Whether you use a ring light on your phone for selfies or photography, or you vlog/stream from your desk and use one of these as your main source of lighting - you now know how to safely use it.
It's just a matter of limiting your time staring straight on, adjusting the brightness if possible, using filters or defusers, or better yet - finding a better ring light.
