Three-Point Lighting Workshop

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-point_lighting)

In this workshop we learnt how to set up and how to use standard "three-point lighting". This is compared of three different lights, each with their own specific function:

• Key light: This is the hardest light and is used to illuminate the set/actor.
• Fill light: This is a soft light and is mainly designed to eliminate the shadows created by the key light.  You can do this by either diffusing the light or shining it off of a reflector 
• Back light: This is shone on the back of the set/actor and is meant to separate them from the background so they stand out a lot more.

Although this is a very common way of lighting a set; it does not mean it is essential and can be altered to fit the given situation. A way we did this was to re-position the lights in order to create a film noir shot/atmosphere. To do this we cut kept alternating turning off the soft and harsh lights to create a variety of different shadows across the face. We found that the back light was important as it stopped the target from blending too much into the background but it wasn't needed, depending on the distance the set.