The most common lighting set up is what’s called 3 point lighting. This lighting setup consists of a Key Light, and Fill Light, and a Backlight. With these three lights we get soft, but dynamic lighting on our subjects face and a good amount of separation from their background with a backlight. Let’s take a look at how this lighting setup is achieved.

Lighting Setup

Your Key Light should be the brightest light source and do most of the lighting of your scene. The Fill Light should be less bright than your Key and is intended to soften the shadows caused by your Key Light. Look for harsh shadows coming off of you subjects nose or eyes and use the Fill Light to minimize the contrast. We still want a little shadow to create some depth and dynamic range in the image, but harsh shadows can look too stark unless you’re going for a very dramatic lighting setup. The Backlight or Rim Light is there to separate your subject from the background and put a little halo of light onto their shoulders and hairline. Let’s look at a practical setup of 3 Point Lighting below.

But you don’t need fancy studio lights to achieve this balanced lighting effect. Substituting your Key Light with a Window, your Fill Light with a Bounce card and making use of an overhead practical light or a floor or table lamp to provide some backlight can give you the professional look of the studio wherever your location might be.