Introduction to the Standard Three Point Lighting Setup

A sure way of upping the production value of your video, especially when shooting interviews, is to ensure that your subject is lit well. And thankfully, doing this is probably not as complicated as you might think!

Three Point Lighting is the standard lighting setup for most interviews. It consists of three different lights of varying kinds that work together to appropriately illuminate your subject. While you may choose to deviate a bit from this basic setup, Three Point Lighting is a great place to start.

The Key Light is used as your primary source of light and will shine directly on your subject. Depending on the desired look of the scene, this might be a harder, more direct light (such as an Arri), or a softer light like a softbox or LED light (such as a kino flo). This will be placed in front and to one side of your subject. Depending on your location, you may even choose to use the sun as your key light, although, for obvious reasons, the control that you would have over that particular kind of key light will be limited. (They haven’t yet invented a dimmer switch for the sun.)

The Fill Lightis used to help fill in the areas on the other side of the subject’s face that the Key Light may have left in shadow. This light will typically be diffused (softened) and placed farther away so that it doesn’t compete with the intensity of the key light. This light will be positioned on the opposite side of your subject as the Key Light. If sunlight is being used as your key light, all that may be necessary for your fill light is to use a bounce card or reflector in order to reflect some of the Key Light back onto your subject.

The Hair/Back Light, sometimes referred to as the rim light, shines on the subject from behind and provides light on their hair and shoulders in order to help separate them from the background. This light really should not interfere with the lighting on the front of the face, but simply serves to keep the subject from blending into the background.

Although not always necessary, you may also choose to use a fourth light in order to complete your shot.

The Background Lightcan be pointed at your background and may used on the opposite side of the hair light in order to help illuminate what is behind the subject. This can help give more depth to your shot and can serve to remove any unwanted shadows that the other lights may have cast onto the background.

Using this basic Three Point Lighting setup can help you achieve some great results when shooting interviews! Keep in mind however, that this method should be used as a starting point. Depending on the desired mood or tone of your video, you should experiment with the intensity, coloring, positioning, and hardness of each light to give you the look and feel that you’re going for.

Introduction to the Standard Three Point Lighting Setup