Thin Faces
The technique for lighting thin faces is just
the opposite. Use soft key lights at or near the
six o’clock and nine o’clock positions. Often,
you may be able to omit the key light entirely,
as in Figure 16-22.
For easier comparison, Figure 16-21 and
Figure 16-22 use wide and narrow renderings of
the same face.
Lighting Problems
All lighting situations have problems, but
some are especially common. One of these is
subjects who are hard to light pleasingly; another
involves specialized light sources.
Subject Problems
Unless you are lighting characters in story
videos, you generally want to make your subjects
look as good as possible. The following are fi ve
of the most common subject problems, with
suggestions for solving them.
Heavy Faces
You can use lighting to make heavy faces
look slimmer. The trick is to highlight the center
of the face and leave the sides in semi-shadow,
Figure 16-21. To do this, key the lighting with a
spotlight and use vertical barn doors (or fl ags,
if necessary) to restrict the light to the center of
the face. The light should be placed at or near
the six o’clock position. To complete the setup,
place soft fi ll lights at both the three o’clock and
nine o’clock positions, moving them away from
the subject until they deliver just enough light
to reveal details in the shadows.
Lighting Moving Subjects Outdoors
The technique for lighting outdoor movement
is the same as for interiors, except that your lighting
instruments are reflectors. Hard aluminum surfaces
work well because they throw light a long distance.
Also, after traveling 50′ or so, the light beam
pattern is broad enough to cover a larger area
and is reduced to a more manageable intensity.
Multiple reflectors fill a moving shot.
The longer reflector throw provides a wider, less
intense beam.
Figure 16-21 A heavy face appears narrower when
its sides are darker than its center.
Chapter 16 Lighting Applications 345