Lighting

Above all, light influences the overall mood of the scene. If the light is not set correctly, you may see almost nothing. However, if you pay a little conscious attention to the light setting, you can achieve excellent images and convey strong moods.

General information

Golden and blue hour

The spectrum of light can range from a very warm orange to a cool blue. The warmest natural light occurs during the so-called golden hour. This is during sunrise or sunset. It is particularly advisable to film outside during this time. The images are warm and have a very nice illumination.
Directly after or before the golden hour is the blue hour. This is the time when the sun has not yet risen or has just set. Cold light is good for depicting unpleasant or scary things, but can also be seen as a sign of calm and relaxation. It all depends on the way the story is told.

Contrast, light and shade

Contrasts can be created very well with light and shadow. That is the difference between two things: In this case, between things that are illuminated and things that are in shadow. Shadows also bring a three-dimensionality to images. For example, if everything is evenly lit and there is also very diffuse light, which makes for softer transitions from light to shadow, it looks very flat. (Image left)

The use of shadows in a picture can be very interesting and enrich it. In this case, the light is hard and therefore also creates a harder transition between light and shadow, which can make it even more interesting (image on the right).

Light sources

There are different types of light sources. There are self-luminous objects, such as the sun or lamps. But you can also illuminate your scenes by reflecting light. Very bright or reflective fabrics are often used for this purpose.

Hard or diffuse light

When people are illuminated with a normal lamp, very hard shadows are created on the face. This can give a very strong image and also too much contrast, because the edges of the shadows are then very clearly visible.
This is why there are so-called softboxes. The lamp itself is in a large box. On the side where the light shines out, the otherwise black box has a white fabric surface. The light shines through this white fabric, making it diffuse or soft. The edges of the shadows now appear less sharp, creating a transition from light to dark.

At home

Reflectors can be recreated using aluminum foil and a large piece of cardboard, for example.
Diffuse light such as from a softbox can be recreated by holding a very translucent white fabric in front of a normal desk lamp, for example.

Lighting

Height of light

The height of the light in relation to the person being photographed can have a very strong effect.
The most normal setting for the eye is when the light comes a little from above. This is most similar to the lighting from the sun.
If the light comes from below, you can very quickly create a creepy look. It's similar to telling scary stories when you shine a flashlight into your face from below.
The shadows covering the eyes can make a person look very powerful and heroic if they are illuminated from very high up. However, this can also result in round shadows around the eyes (raccoon eyes), which has the opposite effect.

From below

At eye level

From above

Illumination from the sun

It is best to film in the sun or with daylight shining into the room. If you are filming outside in the sun, you should make sure that the sun does not shine into people's faces. This leads to squinted eyes and shadows appear on the face (picture left).
It is best to place the subject with their back to the sun and then film them a little from the side so that the rear side is illuminated. This will indirectly illuminate the face from the surroundings (right image). A reflector can also be used to intensify this indirect lighting.

3-point lighting

When it comes to artificial light, 3-point lighting is the best known. It consists of 3 lamps: the leading light, the fill light and the highlight. When this type of lighting is used, the camera is positioned exactly in front of the subject.
The guide light is the most important light and makes up the largest proportion. You can also film with just one guiding light. It is best if a large softbox with soft light is positioned slightly above the person from the side at a 45-degree angle.
The fill light is there to reduce the shadows cast by the guiding light. It is used, for example, to illuminate the other side of the face, i.e. at 45° on the other side of the person. The fill light normally also has soft light. However, this should not cast any shadows itself, otherwise you may end up with double shadows.
The highlight is exactly the same as the fill light. It is usually positioned relatively high and has a hard light to create a bright edge of light on one side of the person and make them stand out from the background.

key-light

key-light + fill light

key-light + fill light + pointed light

At home

You can also film with just a guiding light. A desk lamp or the natural light from a window can be used for this. 
It is also possible to build your own reflectors. To do this, you can stick aluminum foil onto a large piece of cardboard.

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