Three Point Lighting Test Run

I rented out some studio space in college. This video podcast project is the first time I have worked with a professional lighting setup and I wanted to get some experience before shooting the final piece.



Above is my view as I faced the camera to present my podcast. Even though the lights were not particularly close to me I could still feel the extreme heat they were giving off. After about 10 seconds of standing in font of the lights I quickly became blind, which help relieve my awkwardness of being in a large room talking to a camera


The Final Set Up

After adjusting the lights a number of times, I was able to evenly light the backdrop.



This was my 1st attempted at lighting myself and the background with 3 point lighting. After taking this picture and reviewing it was evident that I had created a harsh highlight on my right hand cheek. My initial thoughts was that this was from the Key Light



In the above picture I have moved the Key Light further away from myself and opened up the barn doors on the light. I still have a highlight on my right hand cheek, and have also lost a lot of detail on the rest of my face.



After reviewing the pictures again I realised the light creating the highlight on my face was coming from behind me and was caused by the back light. I fully opened the barn doors on the back light and opened up the barn doors on the other lights to create a nice even light on the whole set, as demonstrated in the picture above.

I am very pleased with the final result I achieved. Although I have always been aware that lighting is very important when using video, this exercise has made me realise what a vast difference lighting can make to the over look and feel to a piece of video. I think it is also important to note, when I imported the video into Final Cut, and attempted to white balance and colour correct the footage, I could not improve on what I had already created. This will be a big time saver for anyone who has limited time in post production.