Types of lights to use
Three-Point lighting and other tips
Resources and Downloads
A lot of people are intimidated by adding lighting to their video production.
“What if I get it wrong?” or “What if I mess up the shoot and the footage is unusable?”
Adding lighting can be overwhelming, and it will take practice to get proficient, but if you start adding a little at a time, it can get easier. To help you on your journey, we’ve created a reference document to remind you of the role of each light in three-point lighting.
Here are a few other things to remember as you add lighting:
- Look through your camera. See your subject and lighting as your camera sees it.
- If the lighting doesn’t look right, move the lights around or add or remove lights. Keep trying until you’re satisfied with how your subject and background look.
- If your camera has settings you can adjust, like ISO and aperture. Remember that you may need to adjust the settings again when the light changes.
- When you have light sources that are too harsh or strong, like when shooting outdoors, you can use a bounce card (usually a white piece of foam core board) to reflect and diffuse the light onto your subject.
- Try to match the color of your lights, and avoid mixing warm (yellow-tinted) and cool (blue-tinted) lights.