From the course: Learning Video Lighting

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Creating depth with backlight

Creating depth with backlight

From the course: Learning Video Lighting

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Creating depth with backlight

- Once our key light is in the right place to make our subject look how we want, and their eyes are sparkling, and we have adequate fill light, we can start thinking about how to separate them from the background. One of the main goals of cinematography is to make a flat, 2-dimensional motion picture image appear to have depth. We want our subject to stand out rather than blend in with the setting. For starters, it's always a good idea when setting up your interview, or any shot, to keep the subject away from the background. It allows them to be in a different plane of focus from the set, it keeps the shadows from the key light off the back wall, and most importantly, it leaves room to get the backlight behind them. Now, backlight is any light that is hitting the subject from behind them, as seen from the camera. As you can see here, as our backlight comes up, it crisply highlights the outline of the person, separating them from the background and adding highlights to the scene…

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