How to set up book lighting for video

1/1/2019

When it comes to setting up a key light for your interview you have many options you can choose from. Choosing the correct lighting goes hand in hand with the subject matter. If the subject is light and airing, you can choose a real flat lighting approach where there is not much contrast. If the subject is harsh in nature you may want to use minimal lighting which will create a more dramatic feel.
After I shot this project I thought I would share my tips on achieving book lighting. Book lighting is a type of soft light that wraps around your subject. I got away with only on key light and back ground light for this shoot. The light wraps around the interviewee's face so nicely and leaves a little shadow on the right side. I used a back light to separate her from the wall which outlines her.

Here's a quick answer of a question that I usually get on lighting. Right now I'm just gonna show you a real quick setup of how to use a particular lighting setup that I've learned from Shane's inner circle. You can tell right now that on the subject, her face is lit by just one light to the left, and we've got a back light as well to enhance the back of her, kind of separate her from the wall. So I wanna show you this real quick setup that I have, it's called a book light. You can use a really inexpensive white piece of cardboard, they call it foam core at Michael's or any of those art stores. And what I've got here is, I've got a nice silk, I picked this up from Amazon for about 10 dollars. I've got the white board right here clamped to a C-stand, and then we've got the light shining at a 45 degree angle bouncing that light into the silk. And what, you know, what this does, is it creates a nice, soft look on your subject. It's not too far from the subject, and you wanna be able to go as close as possible, because remember, the closer you are, the softer the light. And what I like to do is, I like to have the light around, maybe three feet from the subject. So this is what it looks like. I hope that answers your guys' questions.