Bill's Light
by Bill Fletcher

I had a professor who said "lighting is easy" and he's right. There are only three things to remember about light and those are:

• Key Light
• Fill Light
• Back Light

There are of course refinements but the basics are almost always the same.

Key light is the main lighting source on your subject. The source of the greatest amount of light. A "rule of thumb" is to keep this light about two times as bright as the Fill Light on your subject. Back Light is a separation light. It gives your subject separation from the background. It adds the illusion of three dimensions to your picture.

Placement of the light is dependent on the your particular shot aesthetics, personal taste and location demands. However, the basic diagram below will visualize basic placement.

With the development of more and more sensitive electronic cameras we are seeing the elimination of the fill light as a third element in the setup for a single individual or subject. Cameras "see" into the shadows so well that the Key Light is enough to fill the negative side of the subject and the back separation light tends to add "readable" fill up over the top of the subject. The added light sensitivity and contrast latitude of film as opposed to electronic image acquisition methods allows set ups in movies and television often times to use this two point setup.

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Last Updated: 11/7/2008