Lighting techniques

Film-makers can also use the following approaches:

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Gels
Gels are coloured sheets or filters which can be fitted to lights in order to give them a new colour. These are often used in horror and sci-fi films.
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Backlighting
Backlighting is when a light source is positioned behind a subject. This can be used to create an aura or rim around a person or object.
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Silhouette
Silhouette is when a person or object is backlit but no other illumination is provided and the image is exposed to create a solid shadow-like image.
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Shadows
Shadows are created when film-makers position key lights behind objects. In classic crime films this approach is sometimes used to create effects like the bars of a prison cell casting lines of shadow across an actor’s face.
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Practical lighting
Practical lighting is a term used when the director and cinematographer make use of light sources that are already present in the frame. So, for example, a scene being shot in an office building might use its overhead fluorescent lighting as the main source of light.
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Available light
Available light is quite similar to practical lighting but here, whatever natural light is present is used to light the scene. Film-makers often make inventive use of available light during the 'magic hour' - the term for the first or last hour of daylight. During the magic hour, the sun’s light has a pleasing golden tint and generates long shadows.

LightingLighting techniques