Side Highlight/Rim Light

[Alyson Jubert]

Hi. First time post. I couldn't find a perfect example this lighting effect, but I'm trying to achieve something like this:

 

http://www.starpulse.com/news/media/angel.jpg

 

The middle actor's right eye (almost dark) is the level of intensity I'd like to achieve between the highlight on the right side, and the soft light on the left.

 

I'd like to know how that right side highlight is achieved and controlled. What does the quality/intensity/position have to be? What instrument would you use to achieve it? Any idea of what the ratio of the two lights would have to range?

 

Thanks for the help!

[Satsuki Murashige]

The highlight on the right side is a 3/4 backlight, sometimes called a kicker. You can see that its position is relatively high because it is also acting as a hairlight on the downstage actor. Also, see how it just hits the side of his nose, so it is not too far behind him.

 

You can see from it's placement that though it behaves as a kicker on him, on the actor behind him on camera left it is more sidey, wrapping around the face more. It's trickier to have a consistent kicker on multiple actors than on a single person, as the light source has to be larger and further away to create a consistent effect.

[Alyson Jubert]

The highlight on the right side is a 3/4 backlight, sometimes called a kicker. You can see that its position is relatively high because it is also acting as a hairlight on the downstage actor. Also, see how it just hits the side of his nose, so it is not too far behind him.

 

You can see from it's placement that though it behaves as a kicker on him, on the actor behind him on camera left it is more sidey, wrapping around the face more. It's trickier to have a consistent kicker on multiple actors than on a single person, as the light source has to be larger and further away to create a consistent effect.

 

 

Thank you! I've heard kicker, backlight and rim used almost interchangeably. It's good to hear a clear position explanation.

 

It makes me think that my problem is with intensity. When I tried to do this, I walked the light in to make it stronger, but it ended up spreading all over the cheek of the subject. Too soft, even though it was a focused fresnel. I figured this is a problem with the apparent light source growing in size, making the source appear softer.

 

Does the instrument have to be very intense and distant from the subject for this to work? Or very close and small?

 

Still working out these basics, thanks for the help!

[Andrew Wilding]

Thank you! I've heard kicker, backlight and rim used almost interchangeably. It's good to hear a clear position explanation.

 

It makes me think that my problem is with intensity. When I tried to do this, I walked the light in to make it stronger, but it ended up spreading all over the cheek of the subject. Too soft, even though it was a focused fresnel. I figured this is a problem with the apparent light source growing in size, making the source appear softer.

 

Does the instrument have to be very intense and distant from the subject for this to work? Or very close and small?

 

Still working out these basics, thanks for the help!

 

 

or perhaps you had the angle wrong. If its wrapping to much around the cheek, make it slightly more of a backlight. You might have been coming on too much from the side...