FILM STYLE LIGHTINGTECHNIQUES FOR VIDEO
“Lighting is the art of balance and control” the Unknown Videographer
“Bright objects tend to come forward, dark objects tend to recede” the
Unknown Videographer
“The human eye gravitates automatically to the brightest element in a scene”
the Unknown Videographer
LIGHT INTENSITY
Light intensity, or brightness is measured in foot candles or lux (1 fc = 10 lux). Two types
of light readings are commonly taken: reflective and incident. Light intensity can be
adjusted by:
1. Changing the lamp to subject distance.
2. Increasing or decreasing the lamp wattage.
3. Using the instruments spot/flood crank, if available.
4. Using filters: scrim, silk, frost, ND gel
5. Using dimmers, if available.
LIGHT QUALITY
Light quality describes the relative hardness or softness of the light cast by a light source.
Hard lighting creates dark, well defined shadows. Soft lighting creates light gray, soft edged
shadows. Light quality can be adjusted by:
1. Using clear or frosted lamps.
2. Using instruments with lenses: (fresnels, lekos)
3. Using filters or bounce material: (foam core, scrim, frost, silk)
LIGHT DISTRIBUTION
The spread or distribution of a lighting instrument's beam can be affected by:
1. Adjusting an instrument's spot/flood crank, if available.
2. Using an instrument's barn doors or internal shutters, if available.
3. Using flags or gobos
4. Changing the lamp to subject distance.
COLOR TEMPERATURE
The color temperature (color hue shading) of a light source is measured in Kelvins, and can
be adjusted by:
1. Using correction material or gel.
2. Bouncing the light off of colored surfaces.
LIGHTING SAFETY
Portable lights generate intense heat and draw large amounts of power. When working with
lights, please adhere to the following safety guidelines:
1. Never touch tungsten halogen lamps with your bare hands (oil and sweat damage to
instrument/possible burns).
2.Use gaffers tape or weights (sand bags, stage weights) to secure light stands and cables.
3. Avoid keeping barn doors or internal shutters completely closed.
4. Keep instruments away from flammable objects or sprinkler heads.
5. Always turn off power switches before plugging lights in or unplugging them.
6. Be careful touching and moving hot lights.
Advanced 3 Point Lighting (Key, Fill & Back) or Triangle or Pyramid Lighting
Techniques











Key Light, the primary source of illumination
Fill Light, fills in shadows created by the key
Back Light (separation, kicker or halo light) creates 3D look and separates talent from
the background
Avoid flat lighting (do not position key or fill lights from the 6:00 position)
Fill light shouldn’t introduce secondary shadows. Try not to use a hard (spot light)
source as a fill light.
A low key to fill ratio creates (2 to 1 or 3 to 1 ratios) create a high key look with slow
fall off
High key to fill ratios ( 6 to 1, 8 to 1, 10 to 1) generate rapid falloff and dramatic
looks (Rembrandt & Chiaroscuro)
Experiment with 2 instrument “3 point lighting” by using bounce light as the fill light.
When lighting faces, soften the key light (especially if you’re using clear lamps) with
a bit of silk or frost diffusion.
When back lighting bald people, clip a ½ sheet of frost or silk to the top part of the
light to reduce “specula highlight” problems. (Specula highlight – true tone transfer
edge - true tone or diffused value – shadow edge transfer - shadow value)
For dark complexions, light the person’s face with large surface/soft
lights…“painting” them with the light’s broad specula highlight.




For people wearing glasses, raise the key light high, or move it off center to bounce
the light reflection out of camera range. For steep angle key lighting use a low angle
fill light (or table top bounce card) to compensate for eye and chin shadows.
Amber gel added onto back lights adds interesting highlights to people with gray and
blonde hair.
When lighting on location, or when creating realistic sets in studio, try to have your
lights appear to be coming from “motivated” sources (e.g. practical lights or
windows)
Low angle lighting creates unusual, odd shadow patterns
Background Lighting





Lighting surfaces on edge brings out detail. Flat lighting (straight on lighting) flattens
detail.
Use gobos to create interesting light & shadow patterns on walls or background
Use gels to create interesting colored light effects on backgrounds
Windows in backgrounds can create back lighting problems. You may have to
consider gelling the windows with neutral density material, so you can match the
intensity of your portable lights to the daylight.
Use depth of field (f stop settings) adjustments to throw backgrounds into and out of
focus
GLOSSARY
- side lighting
- silhouette lighting
- practical light
- par lights
- HMI lights
- tungsten fluorescent
- scoop light
- sun gun
- soft boxes