Lighting for Film & TV: 10 Tips for Making Your Subject Look Good

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So I’m trying something a bit different here… I’m thinking “bite-sized blogs” – I thought shorter, quicker to read blogs (interspersed amongst more substantial ones) might be enjoyable for people who want a ‘quick fix’. Let me know if you like the idea, just a thought!

So this one is short and sweet. We’ve been busy over here at Free Spirit – we’re getting a lot of interest in our courses so I’ve been a bit snowed under of late! I appreciate that it’s been a week or so since my last post so I thought I’d bash this one out to give you something to chew on while I’m working on more substantial posts.

Just a quick, cheeky note, I’ve added a donation button to the side of the blog. If you feel like these posts are helpful in any way, financial support would really be greatly appreciated and will help keep this blog going!

Ok anyway, onwards! Continuing my series on Lighting for Film & TV here are a few tips for making sure you’re giving your subject the best chance of looking great on camera (sometimes they need all the help they can get!!). If you havent already checked out part 1 and part 2 (all about the basics and 3 point lighting respectively, I’d recommend checking them out). These are more ‘tidbits’ if you will, things I’ve picked up over the years. It’s nothing too substantial, but …

Lighting for Film & TV – Part 2: 3 Point Lighting

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“If you can light an orange so that it looks or photographs as smooth and round as a billiard ball, you are ready to light close-ups and portraits of living people.“

- John Alton, Cinematographer.

So… Lighting: It’s a huge subject, but I thought I’d attack the very basics in part 2 of this series – 3 point lighting. If you haven’t read the intro to this series you can find it here.

3 Point Lighting is a common technique that can be used for both documentary AND drama. It’s the foundation of most lighting techniques and is relatively quick and easy to setup. Please keep in mind that although I make a lot of references to lighting interviews here, these techniques are perfectly transferable to lighting your lead actors in a film, musicians in a music video or products in a commercial.

I’m going to keep this one quick, snappy and concise. So let’s get to it!…

Lighting for Film & TV – Part 1: The Basics

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We’ve briefly touched on some of the techniques required to become a successful camera operator in the “How to be a Better Camera Operator” series, (part 1, part 2 & part 3). This next series is going to be all about Lighting.

Why lighting? Well first and foremost we get asked about it a lot. We’ve had a lot of requests from people wanting to know more about how to light and it’s one of our most successful courses.

In the posts that follow, we’ll be discussing everything and anything to do with lighting, from the basics right up to more advanced, in depth knowledge. So let’s go!…