Three-Point Lighting Tutorial

It is an industry standard used in visual media, such as photography, videography etc. and is achieved by using 3 separate lights for different purposes. These lights consist of a Key Light, a Fill Light and a Rim Light. You may also use a Background Light, though it is completely optional.

Here, to kick things off, I will show you how much of a difference Three-Point Lighting makes compared to bad, very bad lighting.

An instance of very bad lighting.

The one above is bad because the light is placed directly in front of the subject, so it completely eliminates the shadows and gives the image an artificial look. Other than that, there's no depth in this image, as almost every part of the image is so flat in lighting.

An instance of Three-Point Lighting.

This one is far better than the other, because of the proper lighting technique used. There's a lot of depth here in this image, thanks to Three-Point Lighting. Some parts are brighter, while some are darker, and part of the edges are even highlighted.

Let me break it down for you, so you can understand better.

This is the Key Light. It is your brightest light, and is meant to be placed in a way that it covers around 2/3rds of your subject.

Key Light

This is the Fill Light. It is around half as bright as the Key Light, and is placed on the opposite side of the Key Light, covering the rest of the subject.

Fill Light

This is the Rim Light. It is placed behind the subject, and its brightness can be adjusted depending on your theme and composition. It is used to highlight edges and give more depth to the subject.

Rim Light

Combine all these and you get Three-Point Lighting!!!

So basically, here's all you have to do, summarized.

Key Light: Your brightest light. Faces one side of the subject, covering around 2/3rds of it.

Fill Light: Half the brightness of the Key Light. Faces the other side of the subject, and covers the rest of it.

Rim Light: Its brightness can change according to the theme. Placed behind the subject. Adds depth to the subject.

Here are some of my personal tips and tricks for the subject matter.

• Increase the Radius slider on your Key Light and Fill Light.
  It softens the shadows and makes the lights less harsh.

• Decrease the ShadowFilterSize and ShadowAtten sliders on your Rim Light.
  It makes the Rim Light appear more natural.

• You can also place the Key Light just a little higher up, facing down. I think it looks very nice.

• This depends on your theme and composition of course, but it works most of the time:
  In instances where you want to achieve natural/realistic lighting, keep the Rim Light dim. For more cartoon-ish looks, make the Rim Light bright and sharp. But like I said before, this completely depends on what you're going for. This is simply what I do most of the time.

This is the second guide I've ever made. I tried to make it as comprehensible as possible for everyone. I hope you like it :D

Please do not forget to rate this guide and leave a comment. You don't have to do it, but I'd appreciate it if you did :)))

Thank you, and have a nice day!!! :D