- Hey guys, in today's video
you're gonna learn about a super-simple lighting setup
that works in just about any situation.
And that is three point lighting.
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Three point lighting is one of the fundamental lighting
setups when it comes to lighting for film and video.
In the 14 years that I've been shooting video,
this lighting setup has never not worked,
and it always looks fantastic.
It quickly became my go-to lighting setup
for vlogging and interview style shoots.
By the end of this video you'll understand
all of the elements that go into the setup,
and you'll be able to recreate it all on your own.
If you'd like to see the specific lights that I recommend
for a setup like this,
then I'll have some reviews coming out very soon.
So make sure you hit subscribe,
and hit that notification bell
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Three point lighting consists of three lights.
First, you have the key light
which is the brightest light in the setup,
and it is the main light source illuminating the subject.
Second, you have the fill light.
This is designed to fill in some of the deep shadows
left behind by the key light.
Then you have the backlight which separates the subject
from the background and adds depth to the image.
You can also add an optional fourth light
that shines a light onto your background.
And this transforms a three point lighting setup
into a four point lighting setup.
Now let's have a look at each light individually
and how they should be positioned.
First, let's have a look at the key light.
The key light should be positioned off to 45 degrees
on either side of the subject,
and position above head height, shining downwards.
I like to use large soft sources for my key light,
as these always look beautiful.
If you'd like to know what goes into creating
a soft light source, check out this video right here.
Now onto the fill light.
The fill light is a smaller light source
that should be positioned also off to 45 degrees
on the opposite side of the subject, also shining downwards.
As the purpose of this light
is just to help fill in some of those deeper shadows
left by the Key light,
You don't need nearly as big a light source
as you do for the key light.
You can get away with a much smaller light,
like a little LED panel.
You also don't wanna be blasting that light
at full intensity either.
Otherwise, what you're going to end up with
is really flat lighting with no shadow or dimension at all.
We just wanna help fill in those shadows a little bit.
We don't want to eliminate them entirely.
If you don't have the budget for a small led panel,
you can also use a piece of poly board
or a small reflector to bounce some of that key light
back onto your subject's face.
Now onto the backlight.
For the backlight you should use another small LED panel,
and you can position this anywhere behind the subject
that you'd like, as long as it's out of frame.
This should also be positioned above head height,
angled down on the subject.
I like to get my back lights as close to directly behind
the subject as possible.
So to do this, you might need a C-stand,
or a light stand with a boom arm
so you can boom it over the top of the shot.
If space or budget don't allow for this, however,
I prefer to position my backlight
on the fill side of the subject.
This light is often the most neglected,
and that's really unfortunate because in my opinion
it's the one that's gonna make your lighting really pop.
Now that all of your three lights are in place,
the last thing to do is just adjust the brightness of each
until you have a well balanced lighting setup.
This lighting setup is really the foundation
of all other lighting setups.
And in time you can start to tweak it and play with it,
and adjust the different light levels
to really make it your own.
Well, there you have it guys,
be sure to leave me a message down in the comments.
Let me know what did you think of this setup?
And if you liked this video,
make sure to hit that like button to let me know.
To see more lighting tutorials just like this one,
make sure that you're subscribed to the channel
as we have new videos going up every single week.
Thank you so much for watching guys.
We'll see you in the next video.
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