3 POINT LIGHTINGPhotographic Imaging 1

Interview Lighting

• Most important lesson

• These skills appear in other setups

• Pay attention to how often concepts reappear

• How the techniques work together and individually

• Adapt styles as needed for different situations

• Adapt your own lighting style

• Use this player to use each light setup

• Four lights• Key• Fill• Hair• Edge

History• Contrast and angle affected by

windows with indirect sunlight

• Historic north-light window = modern soft lights for a classic look

KEY LIGHT

• Primary or dominant source of light

• Out of frame source

• Hard or soft and its position helps set the mood

Soft Key Light• Key light is a very

soft Rifa-lite 88 fitted with a 1000-watt bulb and a soft Egg Crate to control its spill

• Cheek closest to the camera: Notice the shadow line running down the cheek.

• Do you notice this in movies, television, and photographs?

Full lighting with Soft KeyRifa 88, 1000W

Soft lightRifa with Fabric Egg Crate

Simple Light Setups

Hard Key Light

• Hard Key Light using a 250-watt Pro-light.

• Transition between the light and dark areas is more dramatic

• Rembrandt lighting: a light triangular patch under the near eye

• Rembrandt experimented with pointing the main light from different directions

• Both soft and hard key lights are approaching the face from the far side of the face, from the camera

• Short side: far side of the face from the camera

Full lighting with hard KeyRembrandt van Rijn, Portrait of a Lady with an

Ostrich-Feather Fan, c. 1658/1660Pro-light, 250W Focusing Hard light

Key Light Techniques• Shadow on the nose:

• Easier to see with a hard light• Blends more attractively with a larger soft source. • Place the shadow along the crease between the nose

and the corner of the mouth.

• To remove shadow on the nose: • When light is anywhere from directly in front of the

subject to directly over the camera.

• With Key light 'face-on,' wrinkles have shadows• This position allows light to spill onto the background• To reduce spill move the subject and lights further

away from the back wall

• Hatchet lighting: shadow line runs right down the center of the face Bad nose shadow

Reduced nose shadowHatchet lighting

Simple Light Setups

• One light for both Key and Fill. Second small light from behind to add shine to the hair

• 500-watt Omni-light with a nylon umbrella for the single Key / Fill light and a

• 125-watt L-light for the shine on the hair and shoulders.

Single light (Omni-light 500 W) with umbrella, positioned to function as Key light, with enough softness to also act as Fill light.Single light result

Fill Light

• Fill is used to lighten shadows and control contrast ratios, defines the mood by lighting the shaded areas

• Contrast ratio: the ratio of amount of Key to Fill light

Fill Light• Fill light alone Rifa 44,

250W Soft light, egg crate

• With Key light alone, darker side of the face may be too dark.

• Anytime you adjust the left side with Key light you are working on the Fill

• Amount of Fill that is added depends on your taste

• Change mood by raising or lowering intensity

Fill light aloneRifa 44, 250W Soft light

Fill Light Techniques• Light placement near the

camera to hide the shadows behind the subject

• When Fill is directly over the camera it adds to the Key light's exposure

• Adjust the distance of Key Light to lessen the intensity

• Fill light is usually a soft source so using an umbrella or a softbox

• If fill adds another set of visible shadows, it’s wrong

• Double nose shadow: caused by having a Fill light that is almost as strong as the Key

A) Lower ratio of Key to Fill lightB) B) Higher ratio of Key to Fill lightC) C) Double Nose Shadow

Reflected Fill Light• Bounce the Key light off of a

reflector to create fill light.

• Specular reflector: kicks back nearly as much light as the Key light

• A stippled reflector surface: soften reflected light and give less secondary shadows.

• Matte white card: provide a very soft reflected fill at close range.

• Negative fill: hang a dark cloth or piece of black foamcore on the fill side to prevent stray light from providing too much fill.

Specular Reflector bouncing Soft Key light to create FillCloseup detail

Hair Light

• A light from behind the subject, often weaker than the Key or Fill, aimed at the head & shoulders.

• Creates a sense of separation between subject and background, and adds highlights & shine to hair

Hair Light Techniques• Traditionally Hair lights are placed

directly opposite the camera.

• Small hard lights will make small hard lines and edges

• Larger hard lights provide an even, gentle wash

• With thin hair or bald heads, there is probably enough separation from the background

• For shiny heads: have separate lights for each shoulder

• Flag: part of the light falling on the head

Hair light aloneRifa 44, 250W Soft light

Edge Light

• A light from behind the subject, often weaker than the Key or Fill

• Placed to create an edge of definition between subject and background.

• Used to define one dark object from another.

Edge Light Techniques• Edge lights create

subtle defining 'edges', and line-like highlights, AKA kickers, liners or edge lights.

• It is popular to have a light edge along the jaw line.

• Edge lights are also aimed in the direction of the camera

Edge light aloneL-light, 100W

Background Light

• Used for lighting the background of a set, as a whole or specific areas.

• Creating separation between subject and background.

• More than one fixture at a time

Background Light Techniques• The background level is usually

down, or less bright than the subject.

• Highlight something in the background for interest.

• Cookaloris: a random pattern cut into wood, foam core, or black foil

• Turn off any room lights, or add distance between the subject and the background to limit more light.

• Consider using an Egg Crate on any softlights used.

• Other lights should all have barndoors to direct light only where it's wanted

Setup with cookaloris patternPro-light, 250W

Background Light Options• Slash of light: used to treat

the background by putting two barndoors close together on a hard light source.

• Focusing the light to flood will give a larger and more consistent output level to the slash.

• Mix the slash with general background fill, making it less prominent,

• Use the slash accent alone in a darker background to increase its effect

Setup with Slash AccentOmni-light 500W focusable

Background Light Options• Highlight Accent

• Add a highlight to an object in the setting to add visual interest

• Tiny L-light with 100 Watt lamp directed to place a small pool of light on the background

• Track lighting or a recessed ceiling light, looking natural

Setup with Highlight AccentL-light with 100W lamp

Background Light Options• Color Background: more

obviously treated / theatrical effect.

• Provides a contrast of color and feel between the environment and the subject.

• Red gel to an Omni-light

• Use barn doors to trim any spill onto the subject

Setup with Color backgroundOmni-light 500W focusable