Every scene has a main or key light, but more often than not, your key light will benefit from the addition of a fill light, too. Fill lighting is there to lift the shadows created by the key light, bring out the details in and add dynamism to a shot.<\/p>\n
Think of the fill light as your key light’s right-hand person; they work as a duo, a little like Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson or Xena and Gabrielle. Knowing how to manipulate your fill light can make an enormous difference to the look and feel of your films. With a fill light, you can control contrast, brightness, the depth of shadows, and a scene’s dimension. It’s not so much key light vs. fill light, but key light\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0fill light.<\/p>\n When working with a\u00a03-point lighting setup<\/a>, your key light is your main light, usually positioned somewhere between 30 and 45\u00ba camera-left or camera-right. Your fill light will act as a balance to the key light, sitting at roughly the same angle but on the opposite side of the camera. The 3rd light in the 3-point lighting setup is the backlight (sometimes known as a hair light or rim light), which helps separate the subject from the background and provide depth to the scene.<\/p>\n The fill light won’t be as bright as your\u00a0key light<\/a>, but exactly how bright you want it will depend on the type of lighting that you want for your scene. It also doesn’t have to be a light. We’ll come back to both of these points later.<\/p>\n Fill lights aren’t restricted to 3-point lighting setups, though. If you are\u00a0shooting in natural light<\/a>, you might find that you need to lift the shadows, especially if you are using the sun for\u00a0backlighting<\/a>\u00a0and don’t want to create a silhouette. If you’re using overhead lighting, a fill light coming from beneath can counteract dark shadows beneath your subject’s eyes, nose, and chin.<\/p>\n Anywhere you need to light the shadows created by your key light, you use a fill light.<\/p>\n There are 4 main areas where a fill light benefits your scene:<\/p>\nWhat is a fill light?<\/h2>\n
What does a fill light do?<\/h2>\n
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