The eye light is a piece of the lighting puzzle that is often overlooked in non-professional productions. As unimportant as it may seem, that little sparkle of the eye will add a significant amount of emotional depth and a sense of life to your on-screen talent, allowing your audience to better connect with the character.

Since much of the talent’s emotions are expressed through their eyes, it’s important that the eyes are well-lit and able to reflect the emotion the character is portraying. To maximize the effectiveness of this light, dedicate a specific light as the “eye light.” The eye light should be a small, low-powered light placed near the camera. Though the eye light doesn’t need to be exactly in line with the key light, it should come from the same direction. For example, if your key light is high, so should your eye light. This will help in making that sparkle appear to be coming from the appropriate light source. Remember, the eye light is supplemental to your light setup and should be adjusted to aid your talent’s focus not bother your talent.

Make production easy on yourself and use the eye light as a guide for focusing on a subject. You’re really looking for the reflection found within a person’s eye and that reflection of the light will be come most defined when the focus is precise on his or her pupil. Since most people have dark irises, this intriguing and colorful section of the eye is also game for your eye light.

Whether you are using a high-key or low-key lighting scheme, throwing an eye light into the mix will help your characters come to life. Adding that sparkle to their eye can greatly enhance any emotion, making each scene much more compelling.

To learn more about eye lights and where to place them, check out Lighting: The Eye Light

Want to learn how to make a storyboard for video or film? Videomaker has asked a professional Hollywood storyboard artist to share the tips and techniques that an aspiring storyboard artist needs to understand in our latest free report How to make a Storyboard: Movie Storyboarding Examples.

In this special fully illustrated report, professional storyboard artist Jennifer Albright shares all the tips and techniques that an aspiring storyboard artist needs to succeed.

When you’re making a video, the more planning ahead you do, the better. Figuring out exactly what you’ll be doing during a shoot saves your crew time and labor, and saves you from cost overruns and production headaches. A good  sample will help you see how your shots fit together before you’ve shot a single foot of film or kilobit of video. This report explains how to make a storyboard that will show your crew what you have in mind, and save you from trying to convey what you want with wordy explanations and frustrated hand gestures.

Complete with illustrated examples, this 100% new report is a fast and simple way to learn how to use the storyboard format. This free report explains all the subtle tricks that communicate movement and action in a static medium. Learn how to show camera angles, lighting and camera motion in storyboard format with “How to Make a Storyboard: Movie Storyboarding Examples!”

We asked Jennifer Albright to compile this helpful guide to storyboard art, drawing on her own experiences as a freelance storyboard artist in the television and film industry. Jennifer is a UCLA film school alumnus and Los Angeles-based illustrator whose clients include Fox Sports Marketing.

Download your free report How to make a Storyboard: Movie Storyboarding Examples.

In video production, lighting is primarily used for obtaining proper exposure. However, it can also be used to help enhance story elements. Often lighting is used as a visual clue to inform the viewer that they should feel a particular way about a scene or character. Soft, even light works great for a natural and more flattering look, but if your character is a rugged individual, or the villain of your movie, soft lighting won’t help their tough-guy persona. In fact, it will lessen the appearance of any shadows and facial lines that can accentuate a menacing scowl or mischievous smirk.  For lights that add to your character’s unpolished demeanor consider lighting placement and intensity.

In order to step away from the more glamorous effect of soft and even lighting, try using smaller light sources to light your subject. The harsher light will create more shadows and highlights, emphasizing facial creases and pits. This style can hint to the audience that the individual is a force to be reckoned with.

Placement of your lights can also add depth to your character. By placing your key and fill lights further from the center of your subject’s face (away from the camera), and by raising the position of the key, you’ll be able to create more shadows. Try experimenting with the position of the key and fill light until you find the desired look.

Whether your subject is the glamorous or rugged type, putting them in the the right light will tell your audience more about the their character. Learning how to emphasize your subject’s facial features with the proper light will help you create a great story with convincing characters.

Check out Videomaker’s article on lighting women and men for more tips on how to set up your lights for both beautiful and rugged subjects.

Silhouettes are great for hiding a person’s identity. However, when silhouetted figures mistakenly make their way into your family videos, professional productions and other projects it’s often less than pleasing to the viewer. This lighting error is easy to avoid, yet happens much too frequently.

Silhouettes are caused when your key and fill light aren’t strong enough (or are non-existent) to balance out the brightness of the backlight. Regardless of where you’re shooting, whether it’s indoors in front of a window or outdoors in front of a bright landscape, there are several ways you can avoid a silhouetted subject due to overpowering back light:

• If you have the option, use the manual aperture setting on your camera. This allows you to be in control of what’s going to be properly exposed, rather than your camera deciding for you.
• Move your subject so that the bright background/primary light source isn’t directly behind, but to the side of the subject or in front of them. You can use the natural light as a key or fill light.
• Use a reflector to bounce the light coming from behind the subject back onto their face.
• If you’re using lights, bring the lights in closer to the subject in order to compensate for the brightness of a window or background. (However, be cautious when mixing lights of different color temperatures; it may result in lighting that looks unnatural).
• Move the camera closer to the subject. This way your subject will fill more of the frame than the bright background, allowing you to get better exposure.

Being aware of your lighting options, no matter where you are, will allow you to address potential exposure problems before they occur. Knowing how to effectively work around these issues will allow you to create videos that are well-lit and free of silhouettes.

Capturing unwanted silhouettes is one of many problems that can be easily avoided by following commonly used lighting set-ups. In our Video Lighting DVD, we walk you through the process of setting up ideal lighting for variety of situations.

Interested in more tips on lighting? Sign up for Videomaker’s free Lighting Course. This free tip series is designed to help you improve your video production skills, fast. Learn More.

Imagine you’re in a restaurant and you knock over a full glass of water. To stop the spilled water from landing in your lap you put a napkin barrier around the spill and prevent any further encroachment. This is similar to the way light spill works. You turn your light on, the light spills forward and, if you don’t block certain areas off, you’re going to get light in places you don’t want it.

There are many reasons you might choose to control the spill. Perhaps the spill is interfering with another light source, or maybe you want to strategically place a dramatic shadow that will conceal an area of your scene. Whatever the reason, learning the ways in which you can control light spill will allow you to light your scene more effectively.

You can control light spill in a number of ways while creating either hard edge or soft edge lighting. For example, a barndoor is an accessory that mounts onto the front of a light and is characterized by its adjustable hinged doors. Barndoors physically mask the light from reaching areas that don’t require it, while creating a hard edge where the light and the shadow meet. Other ways to control your spill include using diffusion screens, flags and lights equipped with Fresnel lenses.

Experimenting with different light controls, and the learning the techniques involved with each one, will allow you to successfully mask light spill during your next shoot. Eliminating unwanted spills will increase the effectiveness of your lighting setup while improving the look of your video.

For more information about spill control and techniques whether you’re indoors or outside, check out Light Source: Mop Up That Spill!

There are many ways you can use light to alter the mood of your movie. Knowing what kind of movie you’re making will help in deciding what kind of light you will need to set the desired mood. There’s nothing scary about a well-lit scene, and you wouldn’t necessarily want shadowy, mysterious lighting for a comedy, either. Before you start lighting your set, you should ask yourself, “does this scene call for high-key or low-key lighting?”

A common misconception regarding the terms high-key and low-key is that they are describing the strength of the key light. Though the key light is part of the equation, it will always remain constant and should focus on good exposure of the subject. The “high” and “low” are actually referring to the strength of the fill light.

Once the key light is set for proper exposure, the fill light can be adjusted to light the opposite side with either a high or low amount of light. High-key lighting means more fill light. This will give you little to no shadows on the subject and their surroundings, which will result in a cheerier, normal looking scene. Low-key lighting means less fill light. With less light to fill the shadows, your scenes will appear to be more mysterious or suspenseful. With other lighting techniques, such as chiaroscuro or cameo lighting, you might not use a fill light at all.

Your lighting choice should reflect the type of movie, or scene, you’re shooting. Good lighting choices can enhance the mood of your movie and add impact to each scene. Don’t stop at 3-point, high-key and low-key lighting. There are many specialty lighting techniques you can use to get that desired look and feel.