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Hi,

 

Can someone please help me out. I quite new at this.

 

When you use the 3 point lighting setup, does the fill light always have to be at the eye level of the character or can it be at the same height as the key light?

 

I was told that sometimes actors don't like it when light shines into their eyes, so that's why I'm not sure what height you should place the fill light.

 

 

Thanks for your help :)

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The idea with fill is that it is meant, ideally, to be "invisible". It just to tackle the hurdle of not being able to capture light the same way our eyes perceive it. With this in mind, generally speaking, you want to place the fill light where the shadows that it casts will be least visible. This generally means frontal and at the same hight of your subjects. But, if the light is soft enough, the shadows will not call a much attention to themselves and you can get away with more off axis placement. you might do soft overhead fill, which doesnt call attention to itself as being overly directional, and if you use a big enough source it will still get into the eye sockets a little bit. Or, just use soft sources with alot of natural wrap and creative bouncing and foam core, and do without a separate unit for fill. This is my usual approach.

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Perhaps, ideally it should at the same height as the camera, since you don't want the fill to create any shadows, just fill in the shadows created by the key light and reduce to contrast to the required level. Of course, in practise this can't always be achieved, but it's usually a large area of soft light coming from the direction of the camera.

Edited by Brian Drysdale
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