Ring Light — Turn Your Screen Into a Ring Light
A ring light works because it puts light all the way around the lens axis, which fills in shadows evenly from every direction and leaves that circular catchlight in the eyes. This page draws that ring on your screen, so a spare monitor or tablet becomes the light — adjustable in size, thickness, brightness and colour temperature.
What people use the ring light for
Look better on video calls
Overhead office lighting drops shadows into your eye sockets and under your chin — the least flattering direction light can come from. A ring on the screen you are already looking at puts the light on-axis with the camera and fills all of that in.
Even light for makeup
The reason makeup mirrors are ringed with bulbs is that a ring gives shadowless, directionless light — you can see what you are actually doing rather than fighting a shadow that moves with your head.
Catchlights for portraits and selfies
That distinctive circular reflection in the eye is what makes ring-lit portraits read as lit rather than snapped. Position the screen close and just behind the camera.
Detail work and inspection
Soldering, model painting, nail work, jewellery — anything where a directional lamp keeps throwing your own hand's shadow onto the thing you are working on.
How to use the ring light
- 1Open this page on the screen closest to your camera — a tablet or second monitor works best.
- 2Set the ring size so it frames your camera, and the thickness for how soft you want the light.
- 3Warm the colour temperature towards 3200K to match indoor bulbs, or push it to 5600K for daylight.
- 4Raise the screen so the ring sits at or slightly above eye level, then press F for fullscreen.
- 5Turn your display brightness all the way up — that is what actually controls the output.
Frequently asked questions
Is a screen ring light as good as a real one?+
For a video call or a well-lit room, it is genuinely close — a 27-inch monitor at full brightness puts out a usable amount of soft light at arm's length. A hardware ring light wins on raw output, so in a dark room or for anything filmed at distance, hardware still matters.
What colour temperature should I use?+
Match the room. Ordinary indoor bulbs are around 2700–3200K, so a warm ring blends in. Daylight through a window is 5000–6500K, so go cool if you are sitting near one. Mixing two different temperatures is what produces that odd green or orange cast on skin.
Do I need to install anything?+
No. Everything on whitescreen.studio runs inside the browser tab you already have open. There is nothing to download, no extension and no account.
Is it free?+
Yes, all of it, with no sign-up and no usage limit.