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Lighting a Round Face


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I have to light a round face, I'm assuming that the best way to do this is to have shadow on both sides of the face. I'm not sure how to do this, other than to use front lighting with some manipulation of barn doors. Though I'd imagine if the girl moved a little bit, the effect would be ruined.

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There are many ways to light then. A good thing about an Interview is you can really perfect your lighting. Its all a matter of your personal taste. I would suggest a large soft source to the side as key. I often like to bounce light off of some bead board, foam core, what have you making that the light source then sending that through a frame of diffusion in other words a book light. This gives some safety for movement as the source will wrap around nicely. You can add some fill to the opposite side be aware of what your ratio of key to fill is you don't want the fill to kill your key. Or negative fill by setting a flag on the opposite side. You could even place a little lamp in the back ground and play off that and giver her a nice little back light, using a smaller unit that is. Be conscious of your angle of light you don't want to cause a loop lighting effect, where there is just a loop shadow from the nose, this is not pleasing. Have fun with it, there are to many ways to write how to do this. I often like to light the scene and not just the actor keep this in mind and a simple interview can become something amazing. All the best.

 

-Christopher Arata

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There are many ways to light then. A good thing about an Interview is you can really perfect your lighting. Its all a matter of your personal taste. I would suggest a large soft source to the side as key. I often like to bounce light off of some bead board, foam core, what have you making that the light source then sending that through a frame of diffusion in other words a book light. This gives some safety for movement as the source will wrap around nicely. You can add some fill to the opposite side be aware of what your ratio of key to fill is you don't want the fill to kill your key. Or negative fill by setting a flag on the opposite side. You could even place a little lamp in the back ground and play off that and giver her a nice little back light, using a smaller unit that is. Be conscious of your angle of light you don't want to cause a loop lighting effect, where there is just a loop shadow from the nose, this is not pleasing. Have fun with it, there are to many ways to write how to do this. I often like to light the scene and not just the actor keep this in mind and a simple interview can become something amazing. All the best.

 

-Christopher Arata

 

 

Ah, I see, thank you Christopher

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Unless the style demands it, I always place the keylight for women as close to the lens as possible. If it's an interview, the keylight would go pretty much directly behind the interviewer who is sitting very close to the lens (right or left). The older the woman, the lower the light goes (height-wise) to reduce the shadows created by wrinkles. Younger women with smooth skin can take a higher (height) key which can help accentuate the beauty of high cheekbones. Keep the key soft, with a Chimera or something like it.

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I have to light a round face, I'm assuming that the best way to do this is to have shadow on both sides of the face. I'm not sure how to do this, other than to use front lighting with some manipulation of barn doors. Though I'd imagine if the girl moved a little bit, the effect would be ruined.

 

 

You can make a round face less round with a cross-key source, especially if you flag a little of the light falling on the face from the lit side. You can also use the longest focal length lens possible to make a round face less round.

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I'm not sure how to do this, other than to use front lighting with some manipulation of barn doors. Though I'd imagine if the girl moved a little bit, the effect would be ruined.

 

Yeah, you definitely don't want to do that. Your interviewee is going to move around, and you can't direct them to sit completely still, unless you want a very awkward interview.

 

I would second the cross key, that with a kicker will bring some dimension and definition

to that face.

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