Basic Studio Lighting Setup (3 point Lighting)

The final, edited, version

Introduction

The 3 point lighting set up is the basis of all studio lighting set ups, whatever the scale of your studio,  and we will be practicing it with a table top studio and a head and shoulder shoot at our next meeting.  The base set up is illustrated below:

Basic 3 Point Lighting SetUp

Although this sketch shows 3 lights - the technique is really referring to 3 light "sources" which may not necessarily be independent lights.  They can, for example, be the sun or reflected light.

The set up has 3 basic light sources which I will consider in a moment:

• Key Light
• Fill Light
• Back Light

But first I need to introduce the concept of hard and soft light.

Hard and Soft Light

A hard light source is bright and directional; it creates sharply defined shadows on our image.  This might be what you want when photographing something that has got sharp contours such as architecture or machinery but not more rounded softer items like people, flowers or fruit, for example.

A soft light is the opposite, it is diffused and spreads shadows gently across your subject.

To soften the light, you need to move your light source further away and increase its size.  That is why studio photographers often bounce their light off reflective umbrellas or through large soft boxes attached to their lights.

Direct sunlight on a bright day is hard, it creates sharply defined shadows.  The same sun, however, bouncing off a white wall or shining through a net curtain is soft.

The 3 Light Sources

Key Light

The key light is the main light source for your image.  We generally want to see contours and textures in our images (particularly when taking portraits) so a light source directly behind or on the camera is not usually the best solution.  It is generally good practice to position the key light at around 45 degrees off the camera to subject axis pointing downwards.  This usually produces a set of shadows on an image that are pleasing to the eye.

The key light usually needs to be "soft", certainly for portrait subjects, and is the strongest light source in your set up.

In my table top studio I used afternoon sunlight shining through my apartment window.  

Key Light Only

The result (left) is flat and the camera has struggled to set a correct exposure because of the predominantly dark scene. The right side (as we look at it) of the figure's face is completely in shadow, we cannot see both eyes, as is the area under the dog.

Reducing the exposure in post processing removes more detail from the figure and is not the answer.

Fill Light

The fill light is used to put light back into these areas of shadow.  The aim is to lessen, not remove those shadows.  We want a degree of shadow to give depth and texture to the image.

So in this case I placed a SpeedLight off camera on the other 45 degree line set at -2 stops.  The result

is more detail in the figure, the metallic texture and shine is more evident and we can see more detail including the second eye.  The colour of the background is closer to the black it was but exposure compensation has still been necessary.

Back Light

The third light in our set up is a back light which is used to separate our subject from the background, perhaps by creating a rim around the subject highlighting their hair.  In this case I used a small LED flood light shining down onto the back of the figure.  In this experiment

Key light, fill light, and back light

 it did not have much effect, partly because the figure does not have any hair to highlight and because there was already enough light shining back from the shiny floor of the studio.

My Table Top Studio Set Up

The set up was very simple, a black card for the background, high gloss black perspex for the floor and more black card on the right to prevent start light reflections.  The main light source was sunlight through the window, I discovered our new shutters are ideal for controlling the intensity of that light source.

The camera was mounted on a tripod, speedlight on a stand slaved to the camera and an LED panel on a small tabletop tripod.

The speedlight could be replaced by a permanently on alternative light source such as a torch or even a smart phone torch.  

Final Version

In the final version, at the head of this post, I have darkened the background in Lightroom to give the low key effect I was looking for.  This has given me an idea for tomorrow - to repeat it with a white background!