​BASICS

​

• Additive Color: mixing of colored light. All tones overlap to create white. Primary colors are red, green, blue. 

​

• Brightness: addition of white or black to a hue. 
   

• Color Temperature: relative red or blue of a light, measured in Kelvin degrees. Blue light has a high color temperature, red a lower temp. 
   

• Complementary Colors: hues on the opposite sides of the color wheel to each other
   

• Diffused Light: light originating from a large source reflected or directed through a diffusing medium to soften the light. 
   

• Flat lighting: omnidirectional illumination from no particular single source. Reduces shadows or dark areas in the shot (great for sitcoms, shots with moving subjects.) 
   

• High/Low Key Lighting: overall level of light present in a shot. High key lighting works well for even illumination, low key emphasizes shadows
   

• Hue: position of a color on the color wheel. Eight total: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, violet, magenta.
  Rigging: positioning of lamps in a scene according to a lighting plot
   

• Saturation/Intensity: purity of a hue. Fully saturated is very vivid, while desaturated (mixing hue with its complementary color) is dull (creates gray.)  
   

• Split Hues: creating a color palette using colors of equidistant value around the color wheel (three way or, more rarely, four way split)
   

• Subtractive color: mixing of pigments (paint/dye). All colors create black. Primary colors are magenta, yellow, and cyan.
   

• Warm/Cool Colors: red, orange, and yellow versus blue and green. Color temperature has a lot to do with the mixing of hues within a shot. 

​

 

TYPES OF LIGHT​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

• Back Light: illumination coming from behind the subject and opposite the camera. Provides dimension/depth. 
   

• Fill Light: additional light on the opposite side of the camera from the key light, used to illuminate shadow areas and thereby reduce falloff. 

​

• Hairline Light: light placed behind a subject specifically to highlight their hairline. Helps to separate the subject from the background.
   

• Key Light: apparent principle source of directional light falling on an area or subject.

​

• Kicker Light: directional light used to highlight a specific area in a scene or add sparkle to an actor’s eyes (eyelight). 

​

​​

EQUIPMENT​

​

• Diffusor: Apparatus typically attached to the front of a light to break up a concentrated beam. 

​

• Fresnel: Type of incandescent light that can be adjusted from spot to flood. 

​

• Florescent: Low temperature light (2700-6500K) that produces a cooler, diffuse light. Incandescent lights also run less hot and more efficiently than incandescent.  

​

• Gel: general name for color filters placed in front of lights to produce a specific hue.

​

• Incandescent: Traditional light source that includes tungsten, frensel, and HMI lights. Runs very hot and uses a lot of electricity, producing a warm and concentrated beam. 

​

• Neutral density filter: colorless filters ranging in density that reduce the amount of light entering a camera. 
   

• Reflector: board with light-reflective surface, hard or soft depending on the texture, used to redirect sunlight as a fill light for shadows. 
   

• Scrim: lighting accessory attached to a light to increase diffusion

​​​