Be low key meaning full#
Be low key meaning plus#
Be low key meaning series#

A great example is this tweet:Īlthough of course the picture was originally taken for other reasons, if we assume that the actors in this photo were actually trying to get their waiter's attention, it's a great illustration of what it looks like to do something lowkey. Here's a word that you might not have noticed before: lowkey.

Be low key meaning series#

Instead, low-key is really more of a theoretical concept used to convey a lighting style between film crew members.How is language evolving on the internet? In this series on internet linguistics, Gretchen McCulloch breaks down the latest innovations in online communication. Low-key lighting isn’t something that has set-in-stone rules. All of the lighting setups in this tutorial would be considered low-key. Notice how simple each lighting setup is.Īnd again, Film Riot brings us an entire tutorial featuring a single light source. The good people at Film Riot have created a few tutorials showcasing low-key lighting in-action. For this reason, it’s best advised to shoot in RAW instead of a compressed format. After your footage is captured, you’ll want to manipulate color levels while editing. Shooting a low-key scene is only the beginning.

For more information on this subject, check out our ‘ Add Drama to Your Lighting Setup with Negative Fill‘ post. This is important for low-key lighting as you want to control any incidental light that hits your subject. Use Negative FillsĪ negative fill is essentially a dark cloth or board used to absorb light. You can always edit the color in post, but you can’t adjust pixel information if your subject has absolute black or white points. Even if your blacks are black, you want to make sure your subject isn’t underexposed or overexposed. This is normal, but be mindful of your pixel information. When shooting low-key lighting, you’ll end up with some really funny looking histograms. Because of the whole camera noise problem, this tends to be a better decision than simply getting a camera that’s good in low-light. Low-key lighting tends to be shot in darker locations, so you’ll want to make sure you have a fast lens nearby. For most low-key lighting situations you’ll want to use a large soft source like a softbox. A small investment in lights will go a long way. It can be easy to spend your entire equipment budget on camera gear. Low-key is all about shadows, so, just like with any dark shoot, you’ll need to take all of the normal low-light precautions. Low-key lighting is simple and effective. If you’re having lighting trouble on set, try simply turning off a light. A low-key lighting setup might be the way to go. So it’s safe to say their lighting setup was something like this: It can be easy to overcomplicate your film set with too many lights. Let’s take this picture for example: The above picture uses a single softbox light with little else.

Be low key meaning plus#

It’s not that one is worse than the other, each have their own advantages and disadvantages… but the low-key example feels more mysterious and interesting.Ī typical low-key lighting setup consists of one large light, plus reflectors and diffusers as needed. The second, on the other hand, looks more sterile. The first image seems moody, emotive, and (best of all) cinematic. Now compare that to the same image with high-key lighting. In the image above you will notice that the actors face isn’t necessarily covered in a hard black shadow, but the overall tone of the scene is dark and contrasted.

Here’s another example of low-key lighting. In the image below, the model was lit with a single softbox light source. Low-key lighting is easy to analyze… just look into the subject’s eyes. low-key lighting helps to minimize distractions in your frame, so it really helps to guide your audiences eyes where you want them to be. Just because a scene is shot with low-key lighting doesn’t necessarily mean it must be scary, but, if you want your audience to be uneasy, low-key lighting is a great place to start. Low-key lighting is typically used when the director wants to either isolate a subject or convey drama.

Be low key meaning full#

But where a high-key image feels airy and light, a low-key is usually dramatic and full of mystery. Like high-key images, they convey atmosphere and mood.

LightStalking puts it this way:Ī low-key image is one that contains predominantly dark tones and colours. Unlike high-key lighting (in which shadows are minimized), low-key lighting is all about shadows and contrast. Low-key lighting is a lighting effect that uses a hard light source to enhance shadows in your scene.

In the following post we’ll look at low-key lighting and its cinematic potential. Want to quickly add dramatic tones to your scene? Try turning off a light. Make your scene moody and atmospheric with low-key lighting.