Lighting

February 25, 2013 by digislider

Lighting is key, you can have some awesome equipment to film people, but if you do not utilise light correctly, you can have a mediocre looking shot.

Three-Point Lighting is the basic lighting setup to use when you want to get great looking shots of people you’re filming.

Three Light Sources:

Key: This is the main light source. It shines directly on the subject, usually from the front-right or front-left. It provides the overall look and feel of the shot.
Fill: The fill provides balance to the key by filling in the rest of the subjects face with a softer light. It comes in from the front-side opposite the key light.
Back: The back light creates a nice rim of light around the back the subject, separating them from the background. It can also be called a “hairlight” or “rim-light”.

A fourth lighting source can be for the background. The following tutorial will give a run down of these 4 light sources.