Wen we talk about shooting with hot lights, we mean lights on stands 2 2
that are always on, we call them hot lights, 3 3
well because they get hot. 4 4
Often hot lights are used mostly in video because you need the consistent light. 5 5
Right now I'm being lit by hot lights so is this background. 6 6
They can be great for photoshoots when photographing multiple subjects, 7 7
like a bunch of students 8 8
or it can be great for fashion and portrait photography, 9 9
when you want to see how you are modeling the light in real time, 10 10
unlike the flash and the strobe that can only be seen when taking the photo. 11 11
With hot lights you can adjust the shape and light however you see fit 12 12
as you move the light. 13 13
Let's take a look at lighting each subject 14 14
with a couple of light panels in the studio 15 15
and what you can do to change the mood and adjust 16 16
your settings with the light in hand. 17 17
So here we have our three hot lights set up. 18 18
Right now I just have one in the back as a backlight. 19 19
I'm gonna show you what the best practices for 3-point lighting. 20 20
So basically I'm gonna start with a key light a fill light and a backlight, 21 21
So let's turn off the back light and I'll turn on the key light right now. 22 22
So I've just turned on our key light now your key light is your main light, 23 23
it's the key to light our subject, it's the only light that's on right now 24 24
and it's lighting Sam from one direction, 25 25
it's a little bit higher right now as you can see, 26 26
So let's go ahead and take a photo and 27 27
see what just the key light looks like. 28 28
So you can see now Sam is lit just vary from one side, 29 29
there's a little bit of shadow on his right side of his face, 30 30
the backgrounds a little dim and we're using the same settings 31 31
that we used in the flash exercise. 32 32
So we're at 1600 ISO I'm still at 250 just so we stay consistently 33 33
and I'm shooting at an f4. 34 34
So now let's turn on the fill light to fill out some of the shadows 35 35
on the left side of his face. 36 36
So now you can see the left side of his face, 37 37
some of those shadows went away. 38 38
So let's take a photo and compare the two. 39 39
Nice. 40 40
So in looking at these two photos, 41 41
you can see how the one with the key light, 42 42
there's a lot of shadow on his right side 43 43
and then when we add the fill light to fill in the shadows, 44 44
we lose a lot of those shadows, 45 45
it's a much more flattering clear light on Sam himself. 46 46
Now it really depends on your style of photography, 47 47
You can kind of use just the key light to create a little bit more contrast, 48 48
it's a little more interesting or you can create a nice fill light 49 49
kind of better for headshots on actors 50 50
and corporate headshots and stuff like that. 51 51
So now let's add the third hot light which is a backlight, 52 52
so you can see how this light now is just on the back of Sam, 53 53
it's not quite getting to his face, 54 54
but it's lighting his shoulders and his head right here, 55 55
you can see how my shadow is directing it. 56 56
Let's take a photo and see what that looks like. 57 57
So now you can see there's a little bit of separation on the back, 58 58
it's a little bit hard to tell because of the white background 59 59
but you can see between the fill light and the backlight it makes it 60 60
a little bit more dynamic you can tell what the backlight, 61 61
as it lights up the back of his head. 62 62
Let's get a little creative and let's turn off the key light 63 63
and see what that does. 64 64
So now our fill light has sort of turned into a key light itself 65 65
and we still have a backlight in the background, 66 66
it's a little bit more dynamic, the shadows fall off his left side of his face 67 67
and it creates a really cool look. 68 68
Now let's get really crazy and let's just use the backlight. 69 69
Now you can't really see Sam's face at all 70 70
but you can see what the backlight is doing precisely, 71 71
it's just lighting the back of his right shoulder and the top of his head, 72 72
this is a good way to create a silhouette. 73 73
If you ever want to, you can really move the backlight around 74 74
to get creative like we did with the flash, 75 75
but this is a really quick easy way to use hot lights around a specific subject. 76 76
So as you can see using hot lights gives you a ton of control 77 77
and you can adjust things in real time very quickly.