

Hollywood lighting is known for its hard, directional light that creates strong shadows and contrasts. We recently did an Audrey Hepburn-inspired portrait session and created soft, yet dramatic and cinematic effects. Now that we’ve covered the basics of lighting let’s move on to recreating some Hollywood lighting. It creates a rim of light around the subject, separating them from the background and adding depth to the scene. The backlight is a third light source that illuminates the subject from behind. The fill light reduces the harsh shadows created by the key light, creating a more balanced and natural look. It’s a softer, less directional light that illuminates the subject from the opposite side of the key light. The fill light is the secondary light source in a scene. It creates strong shadows and contrasts, emphasizing the shape and form of the subject.

The key light is typically placed at a 45-degree angle to the subject, either to the left or right. It’s the brightest and most directional light that illuminates the subject usually from one side.

The key light is the primary light source in a scene. We will be looking at three types of light: key light, fill light and backlight. Lighting is the art of creating shadows, highlights and contrasts to bring out the beauty and mood of a scene. Lighting setup with Set-A-Light Understanding the Basicsīefore we dive into the specifics of recreating Hollywood lighting, it’s essential to understand the basics of lighting.
