I always position eye lights at reflection angles. To best understand reflection angles in positioning eye lights, imagine that if you point the camera at a mirror stuck flat onto an actor’s face, the camera should see the eye light reflected in the mirror. Eyes work like mirrors, so when you position the eye light in the reflected angle, you maximize the reflection into an eye’s moist surface.
Remember the theory that the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection. This means that the angle at which the light hits a flat surface will be equal to the angle at which it bounces away from the flat surface. The angle the light wave hits the flat surface is called the angle of incidence. The angle at which the light rays rebounds from the flat surface is called the angle of reflection.
I then choose which movie lights to use. My lighting unit decision is based on what will best replicate the quality, intensity, color temperature and distance away from a subject I require the light to be. (The further you move your light away the harder the facial shadows; the closer the light the softer the shadows).
What I’ve learnt from master Italian cinematographer Vittorio Storaro is that the best way to sculpt light with a strong definitive separation between light and shadow is to keep lights far away so they become small sources like the sun. If you have lights close to actors you get an unavoidable midrange penumbra of ambient fill light. Lighting from a distance eliminates atmospheric fill light and allows you to cut shadows sharper. Bringing lights closer creates a bigger source in relationship to a face, creating more wrap light into the shadows, reinforcing the softer overall lighting scheme.
The classic lighting angle setups I primarily use are as follows: front light, three-quarter front light, side light, under light, backlight and overhead light.
Front light
Front lighting is very flattering—it fills in wrinkles and blemishes and as a result has been utilized as the primary beauty lighting angle of the modern era.
Picture 5a. Front light is very flattering when used as beauty light.
Picture 5b. Front light fills in blemishes and wrinkles.
I am not a huge fan of front light as it lacks good modeling characteristics. The front light I utilize most is butterfly lighting, made famous on the face of Marlene Dietrich.
Picture 6. Butterfly lighting used on the face of Marlene Dietrich.
The name of this lighting style stems from the butterfly shadow cast under the nose from the lighting angle. The position of this light is behind the camera centered onto the face, high enough to create shadows under the chin, but not too high that it can’t reach into the eye sockets.
