{"id":3495,"date":"2009-09-04T18:01:09","date_gmt":"2009-09-04T23:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/?p=3495"},"modified":"2023-11-21T19:48:24","modified_gmt":"2023-11-22T00:48:24","slug":"simple-3-point-lighting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/simple-3-point-lighting\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Natural Light to Get 3-Point Lighting for Your Talking Head Video"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1R0iUxsWNJ0\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Quality lighting for video is really a lot easier than you might think. Here is a short video demonstration of how you can get incredible looking three-point lighting for a talking head video using nothing but inexpensive fixtures you already have sitting around the house.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/how-to-videotape-a-talking-head\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The talking head video<\/a> is probably the single most common type of video.<\/strong> It serves so many functions and is really the easiest kind of video to make. That doesn&#8217;t mean lots of people don&#8217;t goof it up, though.<\/p>\n<p>To make your talking head video well, the two most important things are decent lighting and decent audio quality. Today&#8217;s post covers lighting for talking head. In this quick five-minute video, watch as I fully explain the easiest way to set up professional quality, triangle lighting using standard home lighting equipment.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><strong>3-point lighting is the professional standard for lighting a talking head. Essentially, it means 3 points of light surround the head, giving it definition. It is also called triangle lighting.<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-18081 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/3-lights-diagram-.jpeg?resize=496%2C496&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"triangle lighting\" width=\"496\" height=\"496\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/3-lights-diagram-.jpeg?w=720&amp;ssl=1 720w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/3-lights-diagram-.jpeg?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/3-lights-diagram-.jpeg?resize=100%2C100&amp;ssl=1 100w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/3-lights-diagram-.jpeg?resize=600%2C600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/3-lights-diagram-.jpeg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 496px) 100vw, 496px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As I was setting up to videotape myself the other day, I made a spur of the minute decision to go ahead and roll the camera while I was setting up, so you could learn exactly how I do it. I do it the cheap and easy way!<\/p>\n<p>So, as I got ready to work, still wearing my PJ&#8217;s with no make-up yet, (Sorry. Scary, I know.) I rolled tape and spoke to the camera, explaining what I was doing as I turned on each light. And, yes, I left my pj&#8217;s on, though that is not as exciting as it might sound.\u00a0 Victoria and I have vastly different secrets.\u00a0 \u00a0\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p><strong>This video demonstration shows you how I went from a dark, empty room to a great looking shot in less than five minutes<\/strong>. (The make-up part took longer, this video is just about lighting!)<\/p>\n<p>It essentially boils down to where the light fixtures are placed and how you diffuse the light. Watch the video and see exactly what I mean.<\/p>\n<p>Using natural light is one of my favorite tricks.\u00a0 By natural light here, I am counting any windows or lamps already in place.\u00a0 Often, videographers avoid any natural light when shooting inside. They&#8217;ll turn off all lights and close all the curtains.\u00a0 I liked using the natural light however if it was a situation that could indeed create quality light.\u00a0 \u00a0Not every situation allows it, so I often closed the curtains too.<\/p>\n<p>Once you learn more about how video lighting works, you can better judge whatever location you find yourself in.\u00a0 As a TV news photographer, that was one of my first tasks at every shoot, to assess the location and decide how to set up lights.<\/p>\n<p>When you are inside, any sunlight coming in will work better for you if it is diffused, so not likely to change.\u00a0 If it&#8217;s direct, you&#8217;d have to move fast before you lose the lighting.\u00a0 Generally speaking, you want your lighting to be stable, so moving light becomes a problem.<\/p>\n<p>In the video above, the sunlight was very diffused by all the trees outside.\u00a0 The camera I was using was able to handle the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/lighting-basics-for-video-making\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> light mixture OK and give good color<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Using natural light is not something that works in every situation, but when it does, it is a huge time-saver.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks for reading <em>Video Production Tips.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Lorraine Grula<\/p>\n<p><strong>FOOD FOR THOUGHT QUESTIONS\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>According to the article, what are the two most important things hen making a video talking head?<\/li>\n<li>In your own words, describe 3-point lighting.<\/li>\n<li>According to the article, why is using natural light sometimes a good idea?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-19321 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Screenshot-2023-09-18-193834.png?resize=361%2C461&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"361\" height=\"461\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Screenshot-2023-09-18-193834.png?w=498&amp;ssl=1 498w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Screenshot-2023-09-18-193834.png?resize=235%2C300&amp;ssl=1 235w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Screenshot-2023-09-18-193834.png?resize=117%2C150&amp;ssl=1 117w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 361px) 100vw, 361px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Easiest way to get professional 3-point lighting for your talking head video.  Use simple home lighting fixtures to get professional 3-point lighting for your video head shot.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10484,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[843,1739,1740,1742,1741,841,1737,1716],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/amber.jpg?fit=502%2C682&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3495"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3495"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19800,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3495\/revisions\/19800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}