Lighting is a very important factor in making visual content. In fact, it might be the most important factor. If your lighting is off, your photos or videos will look wrong, and your artistic vision could be compromised. Lighting is one of the most critical aspects of creating content because it allows you to set the mood.  A poor lighting studio setup can make a serious scene or photo come off as light or funny, or it can make something funny seem more serious than it should be. Pinpointing lighting directly on specific objects or people pulls viewers’ eyes to the intended spot. This specific trick makes sure that important aspects of the video are not missed by the intended audience.
Concepts like shading and playing with light are important aspects in modern photography too. Manipulating light can change a still photograph the same ways it can a video. However, with photography, lighting might be the difference from the photo turning out great or not turning out at all. You need to ensure controlled light for photography. Studio setups are the only way to get that professional lighting that you need for your next project.
Often directors, photographers, and content producers rely on a specific concept to light their projects. It is called three-point lighting. Here is a look at what that means:
Three-Point Lighting
While three-point lighting is commonly used in video, its principles also apply to still photography. This method uses three types of lighting to ensure that the main subject of the piece is properly illuminated and highlighted to draw attention in the right places. Those three types of lighting are:
- Key Lighting: Key lighting focuses on the main person or thing in the scene or photo. A lighting studio setup will generally set this element of the lighting first. The key light will be illuminating the main character of the scene and therefore will be the most direct light on the shot.
- Fill Lighting: Fill lighting does what its name suggests, it fills in shadows. These shadows might have been created by the key lighting itself. Those shadows need to go away so that the subject clearly stands out. Fill lighting is all about balance, it can’t be too light, and it can’t be too strong.
- Back Lighting: Back lighting is generally used if there isn’t enough contrast between the subject of the video or photo and the environment it’s being shot in. Being back lit is crucial in the overall light for photography. Studio professionals go to great lengths to ensure that the subject stands out from the background and back lighting is the most important element to achieve that effect.
Three-point lighting is just one of the many lighting advantages you could have in a professional studio. Most of the best professional studios will have cutting edge sound equipment and the latest camera tech available. That is worlds better than a ring light and a cell phone camera. If you are trying to take your content to the next level, consult the professionals.
