A lot of people who are newer to shooting film like to say that it’s fun because it’s unpredictable. You take some photos, send the film to a lab, and like magic, you get your photos back. Some turn out great, some might have some ‘happy accidents’, and others are a bit too dark and muddy. I would like to argue here that film can be very predictable and very precise. The way you get those results is through the use of a light meter and manually exposing your photos.

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Considered extremely bold, the contentious decision to not use any artificial lighting for this epic movie gave this film its signature look. That was because the production ran much longer than expected and the winter conditions were very hard on the crew. However, the end result is outstandingly beautiful with sweeping vistas, backlit runs through frost-covered forest, and almost entirely wide angle lenses. This film set a new bar for making an epic Hollywood films that is not likely to be repeated very soon.

Bounce lighting is about literally bouncing the light from a strong light source towards your subject or scene using a reflector or any light-colored surface, such as walls and ceilings. Doing so creates a bigger area of light that is more evenly spread out.

Soft light doesn’t refer to any lighting direction, but it’s a technique nonetheless. Cinematographers make use of soft lighting (even when creating directional lighting with the techniques above) for both aesthetic and situational reasons: to reduce or eliminate harsh shadows, create drama, replicate subtle lighting coming from outside, or all of the above.

What is alightmeter used for

Hard light can be sunlight or a strong light source. It’s usually unwanted, but it certainly has cinematic benefits. You can create hard lighting with direct sunlight or a small, powerful light source.

Direction refers to where the light or lights are coming from in relation to the camera. Some common terms that refer to direction of light is back light, top light, frontal, and profile. There are often several different directions of light working together to make up the totality of the lighting direction. If the light is hard enough, you can often tell from which direction the light is coming.

The intensity of the light is how much light is hitting any part of your scene. The intensity can and often does vary from one part of the frame to another. It also varies from one subject to another. When working on set you will often hear that there should be a 4-to-1 ratio from one side of the face to the other. Alternatively, you can have a 3-to-1 ratio from the subject to the background. This means the intensity of the light should be four times greater on one side of the face in reference to the other and three times greater on the subject than the background.

However, practical lights are not always easy to work with, as candles and lamps are typically not strong enough to light up a subject. A hidden, supplementary motivated light (more on that later) may be used or dimmers can be installed in lamps so the light’s intensity can be adjusted.

To ensure that your motivated lighting looks as natural as possible, several methods are used, such as the use of filters to create window shadows and the use of colored gels to replicate the warm, bright yellow light coming from the sun or the cool, faint bluish light from the moon.

These are two terms that are usually used interchangeably by photographers. Both are devices for measuring light, however, technically a “light meter” only reports the light’s intensity, whereas an exposure meter measures the intensity of light and translates that data into camera settings needed to make a correct exposure in the given lighting situation. There are two types of exposure meters – incident and reflective. The exposure meter built into your camera is a reflective light meter, meaning that it measures light reflected from a subject. The other type of exposure meter, incident, measures light that falls directly onto the meter. This is the type of meter that is used to measure flash’s intensity.

Using the data provided by a light meter can help a photographer better understand light and how it behaves. Knowing the quality of the light and where it falls will help you control the look and feel of your image and has the added benefit of better consistency between shots.

Lighting your subject to be slightly or more bright than your background helps draw your eye to the subject. Also, if the subject is a face, lighting the face from behind, opposite the camera (also known as upstage lighting), helps give the subject’s face some more definition as the shadows are falling towards the camera. There are many types of cinematic lighting for film that you can employ to get the mood and shot you want.

If your camera has an in-camera meter, it will probably be fairly accurate in the front-lit scenario. While when shooting back-lit, the camera is reading more of the bright background, which will then set the exposure to compensate for the background light, thus underexposing your subject.

As with fill lighting, you’ll want to also diffuse your backlight so it becomes less intense and covers a wider area of your subject. For example, for subject mid-shots, you’ll want to also light up the shoulders and base of the person’s neck instead of just the top of their head. This technique can also be used on its own, without the key and fill lights if you’re aiming for a silhouette.

Unlike direction or intensity, the softness or hardness of the light is a more subjective quality. Hard light is often used to create more mystery and drama (think: Apocalypse Now). Soft light is often used when the drama is not quite so intense or for more of a naturalistic look (for example, 500 Days of Summer).

Needless to say, side lighting is for illuminating your scene from the side, parallel to your subject. It is often used on its own or with just a faint fill light to give your scene a dramatic mood or what’s referred to as “chiaroscuro” lighting. To really achieve this effect, your side light should be strong so as to create strong contrast and low-key lighting that reveals the texture and accentuates the contours of your subject.

A light meter is the best way to have control of your exposures, in turn giving you the results you are looking for. The lightmeter used in the video above is the Sekonic L-358, which you can find at Film Supply Club along with film and cameras to shoot it with.

Despite it creating harsh shadows, hard lighting is great for drawing attention to your main subject or to an area of the scene, highlighting your subject’s contour, and creating a strong silhouette.

Proper film lighting techniques are essential in creating stylized and natural-looking film scenes. This is why film sets always seem to be overly lit or packed with many different light sources that serve different purposes. This requires technical knowledge in cinematography, which means using the most appropriate cinematic shots and types of film lighting techniques to get your message across perfectly in each and every scene.

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However, just because it’s your “main” light doesn’t mean it always has to be facing your subject. You can place your key light anywhere, even from the side or behind your subject to create a darker mood. Just avoid placing it near or right beside the camera as this will create flat and direct lighting for your subject.

What I recommend is holding the lightmeter towards where your camera will be, in the most shaded area of your subject or photo. This way, you are giving extra light to your subject making he or she properly exposed. One of the magic aspects of film is that it retains highlights really well. So you expose for your subject, and then the sky and background usually still retain their detail. The opposite is true with digital. For your digital images, you expose for your highlights.

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When shooting film, especially color film, the shadows in the film need a lot of light. I have found it is better to over-expose your film, most especially when you’re shooting backlit. Like in the photo above, backlit refers to when the sun is behind your subject, lighting them from behind. When this happens, typically the sky and background are brighter than your subject, who’s face is technically shaded.

Cinematic lighting is lighting for film that evokes a feeling and has a style. It’s the lighting we see in the movies we watch, be they big budget or independent. While the term cinematic lighting is not a precise term and is in fact very subjective, there are some lighting techniques that generally lead to this look.

Because the aim of fill lighting is to eliminate shadows, it’s advisable to place it a little further and/or diffuse it with a reflector (placed around 3/4 opposite to the key light) to create softer light that spreads out evenly. Many scenes do well with just the key and fill studio lighting as they are enough to add noticeable depth and dimension to any object.

If you’re aiming to become a cinematographer, director, writer, or any other person who holds a creative role in a film crew, you’ll need to learn some of the basic lighting techniques and types of lighting used in filmmaking.

Backlighting is used to create a three-dimensional scene, which is why it is also the last to be added in a three-point lighting setup. This also faces your subject—a little higher from behind so as to separate your subject from the background.

There aren’t many cinematographers that are known by most film fans. Roger Deakins is one of, if not the best currently working cinematographers. He makes the lighting perfectly fit the subject and doesn’t make the imagery pretty when that doesn’t fit the theme of the work. In Sicario, he uses heavy lighting from windows, dark and heavy contrast, and unflattering fluorescent lighting for the CIA office building. If it makes sense and adds to the feel, he uses it. And his choices always work exceptionally well.

A light meter objectively measures the light and breaks it down into measurements that photographers can use, (Shutter speed, ISO, F-Stop). There are two kinds of light that they meter: reflected light and incident light.

Practical lighting is the use of regular, working light sources like lamps, candles, or even the TV. These are usually intentionally added in by the set designer or lighting crew to create a cinematic nighttime scene. They may sometimes be used to also give off subtle lighting for your subject.

Cinematography and film lighting is closely similar to photography lighting. You’ve probably heard many of these techniques, especially if you’ve done some studio photography in the past, but it helps to learn how they can uniquely benefit filmmakers in creating different moods and atmospheres in every scene.

As the name suggests, this technique is used to “fill in” and remove the dark, shadowy areas that your key light creates. It is noticeably less intense and placed in the opposite direction of the key light, so you can add more dimension to your scene.

Jordan Cronenweth did amazing work on the original Blade Runner and together with Ridley Scott, revolutionized the sci-fi genre. He used very hard lights, massive amounts of haze, people walking through lights, and moving lights. All these combined to make the atmosphere of this film a cinematic masterpiece that is a study on matching lighting to the film.

Incident light meters measure the light falling on a subject. Incident meters can accomplish their job with more accuracy, and finesse, in situations that would fool a reflective meter, such as strong back-lighting.

If executed properly, bounce lights can be used to create a much softer key, fill, top, side, or backlighting, especially if you don’t have a diffuser or softbox.

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Using artificial light sources is still the best way to create a well-lit scene that’s closely similar to or even better than what we see in real life. However, there’s no reason not to make use of ambient or available lights that already exist in your shooting location, may it be sunlight, moonlight, street lamps, or even electric store signs.

What is alightmeter on a film camera

To take a reading in a front-lit scenario, hold your meter in the direct sun, facing the camera. I still recommend taking a reading of your shadows so you can see how much contrast there is and what that might do to your subject.

If you’re aiming to become a cinematographer, director, writer, or any other person who holds a creative role in a film crew, you’ll need to learn some of the basic lighting techniques typically used in filmmaking.

Reflective meters are the one that reside in digital cameras. The light is measured from the camera’s position and is what is reflected into the lens. In-camera metering has become quite great over time, but a reflective meter only tells half the story.

Having a good storyline, a capable film crew, well-cast actors, and an amazing set design may all be essential components to creating a successful film—but it also has to look visually compelling if you want it to have a meaningful impact on the viewers. This requires technical knowledge in cinematography, which means using the most appropriate cinematic shots and film lighting techniques to get your message across perfectly in each and every scene.

The key light is also known as the main film light of a scene or subject. This means it’s normally the strongest type of light in each scene or photo. Even if your lighting crew is going for a complicated multi-light setup, the key light is usually the first to be set up.

Being the opposite of high key, low key lighting for a scene would mean a lot of shadows and possibly just one strong key light source. The focus is on the use of shadows and how it creates mystery, suspense, or drama for a scene and character instead of on the use of lighting, which makes it great for horror and thriller films.

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When shooting during the day, you could always do it outdoors and make use of natural sunlight (with or without a diffuser) and supplement the scene with a secondary light for your subject (bounced or using a separate light source). Early in the morning and late in the afternoon or early evening are great times for shooting outdoors if you want soft lighting. The only downside is that the intensity and color of sunlight are not constant, so remember to plan for the weather and sun placement.

Emulating lighting styles from famous paintings such as Rembrandt or going for a “chiaroscuro” look will give you cinematic lighting. Playing with ratios of lighting within the frame is often the differentiator between cinematic lighting and flat or boring lighting.

Since the film was shot in black and white, Casablanca, one of the greatest films of all time, had to use lighting to greater effect. The masterful use of light and shadow and hard and soft light by the cinematographer Arthur Edeson can be seen in the film where Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) is brightly lit and Rick (Humphrey Bogart) sits in the shadows. Ilsa is lit softly and bright in comparison to Rick, who is mostly in shadow and lit relatively harshly with harder light.

If you have heard of aperture priority or shutter priority settings for your camera, you start with a light meter in a similar fashion. For instance, my main concern in my photos is my depth of field vs my shutter speed. So I set the meter in a similar way to aperture priority and adjust my aperture to the setting I desire. Then when I take my reading, it lets me know where to set my exposure. As a note: the reading the light meter gives is your middle grey reading, meaning that exposure setting is in the middle of the brightest parts of your photo to the darkest parts of your photo.

Proper lighting techniques are essential in creating stylized and natural-looking film scenes that look much closer to real life as digital sensors and film don’t react as well to light as our eyes do. This is why film sets always seem to be overly lit or packed with many different light sources that serve different purposes.

When used with a fill light, it’s advisable to lessen the fill light’s intensity down to 1/8 of that of the side light to keep the dramatic look and feel of a scene.

Motivated lighting is used to imitate a natural light source, such as sunlight, moonlight, and street lamps at night. It’s also the kind of lighting that enhances practical lights, should the director or cinematographer wish to customize the intensity or coverage of the latter using a separate light source.

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Shooting front-lit refers to the sun directly shining and lighting your subject or landscape that you’re photographing. In this situation, because of the direction of the light, you don’t have to be as concerned with your overexposures. To refresh why we were doing that in the back-lit situation, the shadows need a lot of light to expose properly, and with the sun behind the subject, the area you are most concerned about – your subject – is in the shade.

It’s also important to note that these techniques are not clear-cut, so many of them can actually take the form of several other film lighting techniques. What matters is that you learn what each is good for and are able to make the best use of them for achieving your cinematic goals. The following are all the different types of lighting in film:

High key refers to a style of lighting used to create a very bright scene that’s visually shadowless, often close to overexposure. Lighting ratios are ignored so all light sources would have pretty much the same intensity. This technique is used in many movies, TV sitcoms, commercials, and music videos today, but it first became popular during the classic Hollywood period in the 1930s and 40s.