3 Point Lighting
3 Point lighting is the simplest method of lighting a subject. It is made up of 3 components: the key light, the backlight and the fill light.
The key light serves to light the subject from the front – it is often placed at an angle to the subject to create shadow across the face, behind the nose. This is then countered by the fill light which, as the name suggests, fills in the shadow. The fill light is often dimmer than the key and/or a different colour to keep the depth created by the key light. The backlight serves to separate the subject from the background and add depth to the scene.
Paddy demonstrated a few different lighting set-ups in the studio and introduced colour in the form of filters…
We were introduced to “CTB” (“Colour Temperature Blue”) and “CTO” (“Colour Temperature Orange”) filters which alter the colour temperature of a light to achieve a more daylight-like effect with the CTB and a more interior light effect with the CTO.
Playing with Colour
We then had a little time to play around with the different lighting effects. We used predominantly orange coloured lighting to match David’s top. We also used some diffusion to soften the light landing on his body and the wall behind him.
