One Simple Way to Make Your Lighting Cinematic - Reverse Key Lighting

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Reverse key lighting is a simple technique that makes your lighting more dynamic, contrasty and interesting. Which side of the actor the key light is placed can sometimes be overlooked when learning about lighting - when I started learning, I would just put the light at a 45 degree angle to the subject on whichever side of them - with no thought as to why I was doing this. Knowing about broad and short lighting is very helpful when you want things to look a certain way and to fit a certain mood.

Upstage or reverse key is a great way to get that cinematic depth and there's a reason why it's such a popular technique. Look out for it in movies, you'll see it a lot!

I really pushed my BMMCC in terms of low light here - let's see how Youtube handles it ;)