Hi guys! Jordan with Motion Array and today we’re looking at how to get a classic
three point lighting setup, so let’s do it!
Just in case it’s important, I’m using the Cameron 350 series lights.
You don’t need to have the most amazing lights to do a 3 point lighting setup, so
use whatever you have at your disposal, and learn how to maximize it to get the best look possible
But lets go over the basic principles
Right now we just have the room lights on and everything looks terrible so the easiest
way to start out is to kill all the lights and start from square 1.
From there we’ll build up a better look as we go along.
The first light we need to look at is the key light.
This is the light that will be doing most of the heavy lifting in terms of lighting
our subject.
If your subject is facing head on at the camera you can decide what looks best for your scene
in terms of where the key light should be, but if your subject is facing to one side,
in our case to the right of frame, the traditional way to light your subject is to have your
key on the same side of the camera that your subject is facing.
You can think that the subject is looking more towards the keylight.
You can have the key on the opposite side of the face, but that’s simply a matter
of personal opinion.
It will give you a more bright look while the more traditional side will give you more
of a dramatic look.
Bringing the key light close to the camera will also help to give you more of that flat
look, like a bright talk show type look, while bringing it farther away from the camera will
give it more dramatic lighting. You can see how the shadows are very different with this different setup.
Use your discretion depending on the type of film look you’re going for.
Once you’ve got that down, the next light is the fill light.
Like it’s name would suggest this light fills in some of the shadows cast by the key
light.
You can really notice it in my nose, eyes, and chin.
Place it on the opposite side of camera as your key light and make sure that it’s not
as strong as your key light.
Either dim it to make it less bright or move it farther back to achieve this.
And we can see that this is what the fill light is doing on it’s own.
Again depending on the style that you're going for, this fill light on its own might actually give you
an interesting look.
Lastly there’s the backlight.
Also known as a hairlight.
This is the final light that creates a bit of a fringe of light around the back of our
subject.
This light should be placed roughly so that it’s pointed towards the key light we setup
first.
What this light does is give us a really clear picture of the shape of our subject, acting
as almost a sort of outline.
And we can see that this is what it does on it’s own.
Like all of the other lights, this light can give you a really interesting look on its own.
Especially if you want to have a foreboding character or simply want
to keep the identity of someone a mystery but still have a very pleasing stylistic shot.
And now with everything together, here’s our final result.
It’s a good looking image that really makes your subject look their best.
Practice this lighting setup with whatever lighting you have at your disposal in order
to be really ready for your next project.
That’s how to get the classic 3 point lighting setup, but if you have a couple more lights
available, let me show you how you can quickly take this look a little farther.
A simple thing to take it up a notch is to add some practical lights into the scene.
What this does is actually not about lighting your subject so much as placing them in the
scene that they’re in.
It gives your image depth and helps your audience to see that they’re actually placed into
a larger world.
Depending on where you place a practical light, this can also help to really make your subject
stand out a little bit more.
and a really easy example is actually this scene that we're in right now.
And the light that's behind me is actually lighting the background instead of me.
The reason we do this is because it's highlighting a specific portion of the background,
and when I stand in front of it, it's like that portion of the background is isolating me
This can help to make sure that your audience is focused even more on your subject.
and depending on the lights you have available to you, you can get a couple different variations of this effect.
But guys that’s just been a quick overview of how to get a classic 3 point lighting setup.
I hope you found this video helpful. If you guys liked it, give it a like, consider subscribing,
consider subscribing, and if you know anyone who might be able to benefit from it, share with a filmmaker friend!
And if you’re doing an interview any time soon, you might need to make some lower thirds,
As always we've got tonnes of templates you can choose from over at motionarray.com
But if you wanted to make your own lower thirds, you can see a video about how we did that, over here
And you can check out this video for our most recent upload.
But that's it for me, thank you so much for watching, and I can't wait to see you in the next video!