Filming & Production
Ring light
Also called: ringlight
The look is cheap to buy and instantly recognisable on camera. Because the light comes from the same axis as the lens, shadows fall directly behind the subject, which flatters skin and removes most of the modelling that makes a face look three dimensional. The giveaway is the doughnut catchlight in the eyes, and on anybody wearing glasses it becomes a pair of bright circles you cannot easily edit out. Plenty of creators start here and then move the ring off-axis, or swap it for a softbox at 45 degrees with something filling the shadow side.