Note Orchestra : Unit 3 Chapter 3 [Still Photography]

3.3. Three Point Lighting: Key, Fill & Back Light

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Three Point Lighting:

Whatever you use as a light source, it could be a flashgun a lamp or a window; the important thing is to make sure that the light is coming from the side and not from the camera position.

The ideal position for the main light source is 45 degrees from the camera. While adjusting light, apart from back light, the main light should be at a 45 degree angle to the left of the camera and second light on the right of the camera. The second light is pointing away from the subject towards a white wall, giving a softer and less powerful ‘fills in' light. The relative strength of these two lights is quite important as that is what determines how dense the shadows are. It's quite easy to adjust the strength of each light just by moving them nearer or further from the subject. Backlight should be powerful with mini-spot or snoot and around 1500 degree away from camera position. The position of main light and secondary or fill-in light can be change vice versa as per the subject or photographers choice. If you only have one light to use you can create the same effect by sitting your subject as close as possible to a white wall. We can use large sheets of white paper to reflect light back onto the subject as this gives a more subtle effect. The same applies to height, aim the light at an angle of about 45 degrees to the floor and push it up until it shines where you want it. If your subject is wearing glasses you will need to push the light round to the side to avoid getting a reflection of it in the lenses.

Key Light

The most common way to achieve proper three-point lighting is by using three different spot lights in the scene. Setting up each light the correct way will allow the subject to be illuminated without deep shadows and be seen properly in the camera view. The first and most important light is the key light. Like the name suggests, this light is vital when establishing the overall lighting for the scene. It should have the most intensity out of the three lights and should highlight the form and dimension of the subject. The key light is typically set up to the right of the camera at a 45 degree angle. Once the key light has been properly set up, then the fill light should be created. The fill light’s purpose is to fill in the deep shadows that are inevitably cast onto the subject by the key light. The fill light is usually set up opposite of the key light. The last spot light used is the rim light (sometimes referred to as the back light). This has the least illumination effects to the subject because it is typically placed directly behind the subject, facing the camera. The rim lights purpose is to add a very slight glow to the back of the character. If you were to hide the key and fill light, you would see that the subject is darkened all around, except a small light around the edges. When setting up the key light the first step is getting it in the proper place. As mentioned above, typically it is placed to the right of the camera at a 45 degree angle. While this works most of the time, it really depends on your scene and what you need to illuminate. Play with different angles and positions until you are happy with the result. Remember,

most of your light will be emitted from the key light so a higher intensity may be needed.

Key Light

Fill Light

The position of the fill light depends on where the shadows are being cast from the key light. It should be placed in a spot where it can illuminate those dark spots on the subject. It’s important to remember that the fill light should not be as bright as the key light. A common mistake is having the intensity much too high, like in the example image above. This can cause the subject to get blown out. Instead, you want it just bright enough to illuminate what the spot light isn’t reaching.

Fill Light

Back Light:

When positioning the back light make sure it doesn’t really provide any frontal illumination to the subject, it should just create a very slight outline of light. While theback light is typically placed directly behind the character don’t be afraid to adjust the angle in order to achieve the look that you want. Depending on the subject you are illuminating, and if there is a background, you may want to adjust your settings in your 3D application so the spot lights in your three-point lighting setup only illuminate the subject and not the background. The reason for this is because the spot lights can have unappealing results on the background.