Datasheet

■ UNDERSTANDING THE ART OF LIGHTING

Three-point lighting was developed in the “Golden Age of Hollywood,” which

refers to the period between the advent of “talkies” and the years immediately follow-

ing World War II. Studio cinematographers developed the technique as an efﬁcient

way to light scenes when time was somewhat limited and production schedules had

to be met. When lighting actors, cinematographers often sought out the “Rembrandt

patch,” which is a triangular patch of light on the cheek opposite the light source (see

Figure 1.16). The patch was named after the painter, who often featured such a pat-

tern in his portraits.

Figure 1.16 (Left) Rembrandt. Portrait of an Old Woman. c. 1650. Oil on canvas. Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow.

(Right) Modern photo with similar “Rembrandt patch” on subject’s left cheek.

Rim lights, in particular, were developed to separate the actor from a dark or

cluttered background. Rim lights (and other fundamental aspects of lighting design)

can trace their roots to early theatrical stage lighting. Early examples of their use in

motion pictures include, but are not limited to, Old and New (1929), directed by

Sergei Eisenstein, and the 1920s comedies of Charles Chaplin (A Woman of Paris,

Gold Rush, and so on). Eventually, rim lights were used to impart a fantastic glow to

the hair of heroines such as Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca (1942), Rita Hayworth in

Gilda (1946), and Grace Kelly in Rear Window (1954). The use of rim lights does not

necessitate the use of a deﬁnitive ﬁll light. Glamour lighting, a name loosely given to

the lighting style of publicity photography of American motion picture studios from the

1920s to the 1940s, often used only a key and a rim (see Figure 1.17). A variation of

this technique, known as butterﬂy lighting or Paramount lighting, places a high key

directly in front of the subject (thereby creating a shadow in the shape of a butterﬂy

under the nose).

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