From the course: Lighting a Video Interview

Key light

From the course: Lighting a Video Interview

Start my 1-month free trial Buy for my team

Key light

“

So we've gone ahead and placed our basic lights here for three point lighting for a typical interview and why don't we start with the key light, Jim. What role does it serve? >> Well, it's your primary portraiture light. It's generally, the bright light that's going to be lighting the face. So the placement of it is usually the first thing that you'll do. You know, the placement of that can be usually off to the camera a considerable degree, so it's not totally frontal lighting. You want some mottling and some wrap to, to the quality of it. >> So about 30 to 45 degrees off subject? >> Generally speaking, yes. Okay, so this is the first stage of our three point lighting. I've determined the eye line when I was setting up the frame. So the placement of the key is usually one of the first things I do. I've looked at the person. I've looked at their features and so I'm picking that angle based on how I want that key light to wrap and in this case, I've picked the Kino Flo because it's a soft light, it's a cool light. It's got a dimmer on it, so I can adjust it to taste and I'm going to proceed with that. I'll show you some other choices later. The great thing about these Kino Flos and these these low wattage lights is I can plug them in just about anywhere and not really worry about stacking them all up. These more expensive lights because they're more efficient, you can get more out of a single wall circuit than some of the cheaper lights that draw more power. So the other thing to consider is color temperature. I've looked at sort of what's going on in the room and I decided that I want it to be a daylight balance scene. So with these particular fixtures there's daylight balance and then there's, there's a warmer Tungsten balance. I'm going to switch em out, for daylight and that's a decision I've made for this particular situation.

Contents