Three Point Lighting, Post #6

The three points to lighting, is three-point lighting. That consists of your Key Light, Fill Light, and your Back Light…

Key light: Is the main light source that hits your subject.

Fill Light: Is the secondary light source in which is used to minimize tough shadows on your subject. Usually, this light is placed on the opposite side of the key light.

Backlight: Also commonly known as the “hair light”, can be used to give your subject a more three-dimensional look and “pop out” from the background. This light is typically placed behind your subject, at a slight angle and out of frame (sometimes boom stands in studios are necessary to get a more appropriate lighting setup).

Fourth Light (optional): I know I only said three, but if you do have more lights you can use them to light up the background of the subject as well.

(to the right is a diagram of a three-point lighting set up)

Lighting can be very fun. Once you get to know the basics and practice them you can break rules and create rough shadows to perceive a different mood, look, or tone. Some noir films even use just backlights in order to give off chilling vibes as you see only the subject’s silhouettes in the picture.

I myself had to create my own interview (along with questions, which related to film) and setup my own three-point lighting with my group in a hallway at school. As we went along and put up these old lights we noticed hot pads in each kit’s case. Apparently, the lights would get so hot that you would have to give them about a half hour for them to cool down. If you touch the bulbs before you turn them on, then watch them warm up you can see the oil from your hands turn to a light misty smoke and drift away. So be careful with whatever equipment you are given for certain projects.

Anyways as we interviewed our own set of questions we had to remember to reset the camera stand, lights, and re-angle our subjects in order to get people to look the best we could given the location that we were restricted to. Honestly, a hallway isn’t the ideal set choice and you don’t have complete control over all the lights (like the ones that have to be constantly on in the halls). In the end my team and I did the best we could and here is a link to my little interview (by the way the sound only plays in the left speaker of certain electronics for some reason)… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMX7CII0hQg