(Page 3 of 3 pages for this article  <  1 2 3)

Filed under: GentryMedia Sister Sites •ProVideo Coalition •Lighting •Production •Tips •Training •

LIGHTING STRATEGIES: Placing the Fill Light for Faces

The following image isn’t a true representation of what I’m trying to show as the 3D modeling program I’m using doesn’t replicate the effects of light perfectly.

This is supposed to look like sun coming through a window on the right side of frame with a bounced fill on the left side. Adding a bounce fill opposite the main light source is a common way to fill situations like this, but it has its drawbacks. The main one is that in order to catch the most light the card must be almost directly opposite the primary light source, and that isn’t always optimal for lighting a face.

If I’m going for a dramatic look then having very little light in front of the face is okay. If not, there are a number of cosmetic issues that have to be addressed:

If light is coming only from the sides then the center of the face goes dark. There are dramatic situations that warrant this, but on other occasions it can look like a mistake.

As I’ve mentioned before, the one place that almost never gets light from this situation is the corner of the eye closest to the nose on the key side: a key from the side doesn’t quite reach this spot, and the fill light from the opposite side can’t reach it either. Worse, this spot is made to look darker than it is by being juxtaposed against the key side, which is brighter than the fill side. This isn’t a huge problem with this virtual gentleman but it is very common in real life.

Moving the fill card toward the camera, and more frontal to the actor, may solve this problem, but unless this fill source is very big and a fair distance away it can feel as if a bounce card is just outside of frame. It’s rare in real life for that to happen.

What I often try to do instead is fill from the key side. This means that the primary fill source (yes, you can have more than one) is on the same side of the lens axis as the key is. Here’s an example:

All the light in the scene is coming from the right side of the lens.

Here’s the key light only:

Here’s the fill light only:

And, once again, the combination:

I really like this look for a number of reasons. The first is that there’s a greater tonal range across the face than if the fill was placed on the opposite side of the key. Instead of bright on one side and dark on the other, the bright side transitions into a dark tone which then transitions further into a darker tone. I like the richness of the multiple tones. I also like that the fill shadow is falling the same direction as the key. Filling from the key side means all the primary shadows in the scene are being cast the same direction, and this has a certain aesthetic appeal. It’s also possible to hide one shadow within the other.

The need for some sort of fill on the opposite side of camera doesn’t always go away. In this case the 3D software I’m using doesn’t wrap the light around this gentleman’s face as much as it would in real life. The virtual fill light for this shot is placed at the top right corner of the virtual camera’s matte box, so the really dark area of the face should be receiving more light and the dark side of the face should be a little brighter. If that shadow is a bit too dark then it’s easy bring it up subtly with a distant bounce card.

“Wait!” you say. “You’re talking about adding an additional light in addition to a fill card. Isn’t that needlessly complex and a waste of time?” To which I say, “No. Anything that makes the subject look good fairly quickly is a good thing.” I usually have a key-side fill light, often a tungsten source in a medium Chimera or aimed through a diffusion frame covered with Lee 216 or 129, on standby for exactly this kind of thing. If an actor lands near a light source during the master shot, say next to a window or a table lamp, and the angle of light on their face isn’t optimal, placing the fill light on the same side of the lens and making it optimal can clean up a lot of badness. If I can’t put the key in the right place for the shot then I’ll put the fill in the right place instead.

It’s a very smoothing, flattering look, and even though it adds an additional shadow it often “hides” within the shadow of the key and is less noticeable. Also, we’re more able to accept multiple shadows that fall in the same direction as opposed to shadows that fall in opposite directions.

Here’s a top view of our key + key-side fill setup:

You’re used to seeing this in real life when it happens like this:

Which would look something like this:

See the double shadows to the left of the subject’s head? That looks very realistic to me. In fact it looks more realistic to me than if it were a single source, because light in rooms often comes from multiple windows and multiple light sources and a little sloppiness can make the image more real.

Also, if you think about it, you’re emulating the look of a large source by replacing this:

With this:

We’re basically placing a light at each end of where the diffusion frame would be. You’ll miss a lot of the gradations that happen by having a light source that fills the entire space between the two lights, but you gain the possibility of doing this:

It’s very difficult to cut a large source off a nearby background. It’s much easier to cut one of two smaller blended sources off the background, which will reduce the brightness of the background considerably. We’re always trying to control light on walls as they are rarely very interesting to look at. Their brightness and prominence may distract from what we should really be looking at: the actor.

There are variations of this technique that I use all the time, depending on the subject matter. For example:

In this case the fill light is from directly below, as if sunlight was hitting the floor directly in front of this person. This is a little stark so lets add a small fill card opposite the key:

To me this has the feel of someone standing near a window where sunlight is streaming in and bouncing off the floor.

Filling from the key side doesn’t solve every lighting problem, but it solves a lot of them. I find it much easier to light a set once and not have to completely relight closeups if I can simply smooth out the light that’s already there, even if the key is in an awkward place for that one shot. The key-side fill usually doesn’t draw attention to itself, it blends in with the lighting that’s in place, it’s fast and it makes nearly everyone look good. What’s not to love?

All the 3D examples in this article were rendered in Poser 9.

Art Adams is a DP who prides himself on his natural look. His website is at www.artadamsdp.com.

(Page 3 of 3 pages for this article  <  1 2 3)

                   

 

The Best of Stunning Good Looks Art Adams | 08/30 A directory of my best articles, sorted by topic. This entry is a guide to my best articles, sorted by topic. Enjoy!

NAB 2012: Assorted Snapshots Adam Wilt | 05/08 A few cool things I saw at the show that didn’t fit into any other articles. NAB is too big a show in too short a time to see more than a fraction of it. I’ve covered a few things in some depth (as have other PVC folks), but there’s plenty more that slips by without proper coverage. Here, I have a few photos…

NAB 2012: RED Adam Wilt | 05/07 RED’s Ted Schilowitz discusses 2012’s products, and a photo gallery. RED’s “Leader of the Rebellion” Ted Schilowitz held a press conference at NAB on Monday, describing the projects and products RED is working on. Rather than paraphrase him, I’ve got him on card (well, it’s not “on…

You must be registered to comment. This is an effort to reduce spam. Please REGISTER HERE.

this info is gold. one of my favorite reads on any video/film forum. Please keep it up Mr. Adams

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  01/24  at  11:44 AM

---

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Smileys

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Submit the word you see below: