Lesson 5: Three Light Setup

This week we built a three light setup in the studio for portraits. A traditional 3-point lighting setup includes a key light which is the brightest, a fill which is less bright than the key and used to fill in shadows on the darker side of the face, and a back light which is used to differentiate the subject from the background.

We started by creating a Rembrandt lighting effect with just one continuous light.


One continuous light (no fill)























We then added a reflector or fill card to act as a fill light. The reflector fills in the shadow by bouncing a small amount of light back into the shadowed part of the face thus making it brighter.

Angle of incidence = angle of reflection is an important law of light to keep in mind when placing the reflector.

We used different reflective surfaces to see if there was any observable differences.



One continuous light with silver reflector























One continuous light with white + silver reflector























One continuous light with white reflector























One continuous light with gold reflector






















Next we added an additional lamp as our fill light instead of a reflector. We then experimented with different lighting ratios (ratio of brightness between highlight side and shadow side). With continuous light the only way to adjust the intensity of the light was to move the light closer and farther from the subject.




One lamp (no fill, for comparison)






















Two lamps - 1:1 ratio = even light

Effect: descriptive but not very dynamic. Shows detail but not as much about shape, subject appears flat. Looks like mug shot/ID photo.



















More subtle fill, ratio closer to 1:2

Effect: more dynamic, subject appears more 3-dimensional



















Next we added a third light to differentiate the subject from the background. One way to do this is to place a light either directly above or above and slightly behind the subject to create a hair or rim light. This works especially well on subjects with dark hair against a dark background or light hair against a light background.



Three continuous lights - key and fill each 45 degrees on opposite sides of subject in 1:2 ratio and hair light directly above.





















Another way to differentiate subject from background is with a back light placed on the background behind the subject.




Three continuous lights - key and fill each 45 degrees on opposite sides of subject with 1:2 ratio and back light placed behind the subject and pointed at the background.



















Next we built the same setup using strobes which allowed for more control of out lighting ratios.



Key light with no fill

One 1600 white lighting set at -2 power (1/4 of full power)





















Key and Fill 

Two 1600 white lighting packs
key is 45 degrees and to the subject's left at -2 or 1/4 of full power (400 watt/seconds)
Fill is 45 degrees to subject's right at -4 or 1/16 of full power (100 watt/seconds)
















All three lights combined - Key, Fill and Back

Two 1600 white lighting packs + one 800 pack

Key is a 1600 white lighting pack 45 degrees to the subject's left at -2 or 1/4 of full power (400 watt/seconds)

Fill is a 1600 white lighting pack 45 degrees to subject's right at -4 or 1/16 of full power (100 watt/seconds)

Back is a 800 white lighting pack just behind subject's shoulders pointing at the background at -4 or 1/16 of full power (50 watt/seconds)










Lastly we experimented with a creative three-light setup.



One light at subject's left, one hair light from behind and slightly below subject's shoulders, back light just behind subject's shoulders and pointed up at background.





















Same lighting set-up as above with a reflector added at subject's right to fill in shadows.

Assignment 5: Three Light Setup

Each person will post their own images and analysis.

3-Light Setup

Using Rembrandt lighting, create a portrait with key, fill, and backlight. Post one photo of each part of your setup along with a label that says which light it is:

1 key light

1 fill light

1 background light

1 with all three lights combined in the same photograph

Your post should look exactly like this:

Creative Setup

Then, make your own three light formula. Post just one photo of your three lights combined. Be creative! (It may help to choose an inspiration photo to work from.)

Rules: Use 3 strobe lights. You may use diffusion, bounce cards, etc. ONLY for your own invented setup. 

Post: 5 images. Describe your setup for the creative portrait - where the lights were in relation to each other and to the subject, whether you bounced light or used diffusion, etc - and/or draw a legible diagram if you can. 

For example I made this extremely crude drawing of a lighting setup using Draw Island (I'm sure there are thousands of other free online drawing apps)

Lesson 4: Diffusion, Direction, Using One Light Source (Continuous)

In this class, we examined the impact the direction of light has on the highlights and shadows in a photograph. We began by observing a single light source on a sphere, taking note of the way light falls onto its surface.

• A highlight side is created
• A shadow side is created
• A core is created in the transition of the highlight and the shadow
• A cast shadow is created
• A small amount of bounce fills the shadow side at the bottom of the object because it is on a white surface (at bottom left of object in this image)
• (Not shown: a specular highlight is created when we can see the reflection of the light source in our subject)

It’s important to remember that the positioning of the light changes the way the light falls on your subject. 

Next we observed how placement of a single light source can change the shadows and therefore dimension of a 3D object such as a cube. 

Goal 1: Make all three sides the same tone. To do this, we moved the light to sit right above the camera.

Goal 2:  Light the styrofoam cube so that each side had a different value: highlight, mid-tone, and shadow. To do this, we had to place the light to the right of the camera and slightly above the cube. 

In our first example the light is placed directly next to and slightly above the camera which creates a very even light and not much shadow. 

In the second example the light was placed above and to the right of the subject so that one face was in shadow, one face was a highlight and the third side was in the middle (about one stop difference between each side). A black piece of mat board was placed on the white surface below the cube, acting as flag that blocked any bounce/spill, thus further darkening the shadow side of the cube. 

Next we observed different types of diffusion material and how it can change the quality of light.

First we looked at different densities of Rosco Tough Spun:

Least Dense































Most Dense




Next we looked at other types of Rosco white diffusion filters

Least Dense














More Dense











Two filters overlapped








Light diffusion (such as ¼ Tough Spun) spreads some of the light, while the hotspot from the original source remains. Heavier diffusion (such as Tough Rolux) completely spreads the beam out.


Lastly, we went over the operation of the White Lightning strobes.

Production stills by Tiancong "Jacob" Huang

Assignment 4: Portrait Two Ways

Each person will post their own two images and analysis.

Make a portrait of one of your group members. Select a quality of light to communicate an aspect of your subject’s personality. 

Then, make a second portrait (of the same person) that is opposite from the first. 

Rules: You may only use one 1600 light with the reflector attached. Do not use a softbox or umbrella. You may move the light around as much as you want. You may use diffusion in front of the light and reflectors (cards or the mirror).

Post-Production: Convert your images to black & white.

Post both images. List which personality trait you portrayed in each image and then explain your setup and what laws of light were at work in each portrait.

Be creative!

Lesson 3: Two More Laws of Light

The class created cameras obscura to observe light traveling in a straight line.

We also observed different ways to channel or funnel the light - a reflector, a softbox and a piece of foam core with a hole cut out.

As we can see, each modifier channels the light a bit more--there's no way for the light to escape because it travels in a straight line.

Next we discussed angle of incidence = angle of reflection by bouncing light with different surfaces.

In the future we will further experiment with this law when using different types of reflectors for portraits.

Production stills by Reilly O'Brien.

Assignment 3 - Three Laws of Light

In one photograph, using one light source, clearly demonstrate the 3 laws of light:

• Light Travels in a Straight Line
• Angle of Incidence = the Angle of Reflection
• Inverse Square Law

Materials: 

• Light bulb
• Small mirror
• 2 black cards
• One large piece of mat board with a hole cut for the light bulb
• Clamps and stands to hold things up

The subject is the light.

• Include the lamp/light source in you photograph
• Think of it as more of a physics project than a photograph.
• Use a dodging tool to prevent the light from flaring the lens.
• Try not to show light stands, clamps, etc.

Finished result should look something like this:

As with our last assignment, make one photo as a group but please each post that photo on your own blog.

Lesson 2 - Inverse Square Law

The inverse square law teaches us how light behaves over distance and why the distance between your subject and your light source is so critical when making photographs. 

The power of the light is inversely proportional to the square of the distance. In other words, double the distance, lose two stops of light.

Using 3 18% gray cards, we can see that the light is strongest when it hits the front card, making it appear lighter than the back two cards. The card farthest away appears much darker than those in front of it. This is because the light falls off (appears less intense) as it moves across a distance.

In the following three photos, 3 students are standing spaced apart: Person 1 is 3 feet from the light, Person 2 is 6 feet from the light, and Person 3 is 12 feet from the light. Using a light meter, we measured the light at each person’s spot and took the following three images:

ISO 800, f 4.0, 1/60

Exposed for Person 1

ISO 1600, f 4.0, 1/60

Exposed for Person 2

ISO 3200, f 4.0, 1/30

Exposed for Person 3

Notice how the exposure needed to be increased to let more light in for each person as we moved from farther from the light. 

Next, the students were placed in a line with about 1′ between each of them with the closest person 1' away from the light. Notice that the light on Jacob is much brighter than on Ryan.

Compare that to the following image. The students are in the same formation, but placed much farther from the light source.

The light now appears to be much more even across all three students. This is because light falls off dramatically at first and then more slowly as it moves across a distance. 

The following two images show the same phenomenon: 

The gray cards were placed close to the light source. You can see that the light falls off somewhat dramatically from the front card. 

When cards were moved farther away from the light source you can see that the light is much more even across all three cards.

Production stills by Cody Kjos

Assignment 2: Inverse Square Law

Each group will produce ONE set of images. Each person will post their group’s final images on their own blog.

Part 1: Use 3 4x5 cards: black, gray, and white. Clamp each card onto a light stand and place the cards so that they are just slightly overlapping. Using just one light source, make all three cards appear to be the same gray value. (You can move the cards and the light source until it works). Record the distance from the light source to each card.

Part 2: Post two photographs: 

1. The resulting image with all three cards and the distances you recorded from the light source to each card.

AND

2. A photo of your setup in the studio. 

Then, explain how you used your understanding of the Inverse Square Law to find the solution.