Many years ago I wrote about the simplest interview lighting setup ever. Here’s my modern take on that same setup.
The TL;DR version is: I still use it.
I don’t shoot a lot of small talking-head interviews anymore. I work with bigger crews, and while I still shoot interviews the scale tends to be bigger. Generally, though, I use variations on this same theme. There are many ways to light faces, but to do this right one has to study those faces to get a sense of how they take light. When you’re shooting someone you’ve never met before, it’s best to play it safe. Repeat business depends on making people look better than they expect. (Everyone hates how they look, so it’s important to make them look better than they actually do, and by a wide margin.)
That’s why I still use this setup. It’s not 100% perfect for everyone, but it achieves 90% of perfection for nearly any face. That’s good enough.
THE STRATEGY

Big soft sources, from close up, and from a slight down angle, tend to work wonders for everyone. I learned this while working for a prolific corporate video client. They often scheduled 5-20 interviews in a day. My crew consisted of myself and a sound person. My lighting package was a four-light ARRI kit. The grip package was four folding white/black bounce cards and four C-stands. The only way to survive was to keep things simple.
Somewhere in there I also shot a project for ABC (“I Survived a Disaster 3”). It required me to shoot 24 interviews in a hotel suite in a day and make every one of them look different.
It’s more important to light the people well than to light the background. The background, though, is what makes locations look different. I formulated a system where I could light anyone well in a hurry, and then focus on lighting the background. You can read my original article here.
I’ve been working part-time as a trainer for the ARRI Academy since February 2018. At some point, ARRI asked if I could shoot student testimonials to promote the Academy. In return for a few people answering questions on camera, I decided to teach my interview lighting setup. The last class was too busy shooting their own scenes to sit down for interviews, and we ran out of time, but I captured the lighting setup. Here’s what it looks like.
HOW IT’S DONE


That’s camera assistant Leo Rodriguez. To the left is a 4’x4′ bounce card. To the right is a 4’x4′ floppy flag. On the right, near the camera, is a passive fill card. (“Passive fill” means the card is reflecting ambient light. “Active fill” means the card is lit by an extra lamp.) The light that’s illuminating the 4’x4′ bounce is hidden from this view by the passive fill. The floppy is blocking it from hitting Leo.
As we were in a hurry, co-trainer Nico Fournier laid an S30 Skypanel on the floor to light the background.
Here’s a diagram from my old article that explains what’s going on. It’s flipped left-to-right compared to Leo’s setup, but I think you’ll get the idea.

The idea is simple. Hard light demands precision. Shadows on a face reveal imperfections, so placement of those shadows is critical. Softer shadows demand less precision.
It’s still possible to place our soft source using hard light principles. Traditional portraiture lighting places the nose shadow on the “smile line.” This is an invisible line that connects the corner of the nose with the corner of the mouth. Raising the bounce card, and placing it close, creates a very flattering light source that casts a nose shadow along this line.
Placing the card close to the face is important for several reasons:

• A 4’x4′ source isn’t very soft unless it is close to the face. The farther away it is, the harder it appears. I usually put the rear of the card 2′-3′ from the subject. Closer is better.

• A large, close source creates beautiful highlights in skin.

• Angling the card in a precise way results in the light wrapping around the face in a beautiful way. The part of the face nearest the card receives the most light, so it is the brightest. The shadow side of the face receives less light because it “sees” less of the card. Also, the part of the bounce card closest to the camera is what wraps around, and it is farther away. Bringing the bounce card around the front of the subject will still produce soft light, but it won’t have much tonal range. Angling the card makes the face’s key side brighter and fill side darker, with more tones in between.

The black flag can be replaced by a piece of black/white foam core, black side in. Its role is to reduce ambient light and create contrast. A lot of talking head interviews take place in white rooms, so this is crucial.
Sometimes this eliminates too much light, but that’s okay. It’s easier to add light than to remove it. In the old days, I’d tape pieces of typing paper to the flag at head height until the fill level looked correct. Now I use a piece of foam core placed low and near the camera.
Soft light from below fills in the chin shadow. Light from the direction of the camera smooths out skin imperfections. I often see fill cards placed farther around the subject, opposite the key. To my way of seeing, this is incorrect. That placement “catches” the most light from the key so it is the most efficient, but that’s not the purpose of a fill card. Its purpose is to fill in shadows but in a flattering way. Placing it close to the lens axis achieves this goal. When placed too far to the side it lights up the fill side of the nose and cheek but doesn’t reach into the eye socket. The fill side eye looks as if it is lost in a cave, and the nose looks strange when lit from both sides.
AND… THE RESULT

This is a great look. The left side of the face is bright, with specular highlights in Leo’s cheek, nose, and forehead. The fill side of his face drops off nicely. The nose shadow falls downward, which is in line with traditional portraiture principals. The shadows are open without feeling lit. I could have done a better job with the background but we ran out of time.

I rarely use backlights on interviews anymore. They aren’t in style, and most of my clients don’t want them. They also tend to be more trouble than they are worth. A hard backlight works well until someone with big ears shows up. A soft cheek scratch looks beautiful until someone with big hair sits in. These days I’d rather create separation by lighting the background. A dramatic scene might necessitate a different approach, but for interviews, it’s all about the face—and speed.
We shot this on an Amira at EI 800. The stop was T2.8 on a Fujinon zoom. I don’t remember the focal lengths, but I’m guessing we were at 50-60mm on the wide shot and 75-85mm on the closeup. T2.8 is okay for that focal length range but isn’t much help on wider shots.
One of the frequent battles we fight in the interview world is that photogenic backgrounds are hard to find. Shooting at T2 or wider is a great way to deal with ugly backgrounds. Unfortunately, there aren’t many zooms that open up that wide.
I try to shoot interviews on prime lenses when possible, but that limits options in the edit. A common interview trick is to change the focal length when the interviewer asks a question or the subject flubs their delivery. That makes it possible for the editor to shorten sentences and remove mistakes without cutting away to B-roll.
This setup has never failed me. I love lighting faces, but when I’m working quickly it helps to know that I have a strategy that works well on everyone. Backgrounds are always a challenge, and we are judged on the entire image. Making a person look great in a hurry will keep you on the job, but also getting the background right will make the phone ring again.

Disclosure: ARRI pays me to teach ARRI Academy classes, but they didn’t pay me to write this article.

Art Adams
Director of Photography

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