Lighting Techniques: Edge

The third lighting technique we were introduced to is edge lighting, it uses hard lighting to cast a lot of shadows over a subjects face to obscure it, making the subject seem sinister, it was used all throughout films like "Sin City". Edge lighting requires very little light to highlight a subject and it creates a very stark contrast between light and shade as less than half of the subject is illuminated while the other is cast in shadow.

 These two examples show how the lighting casts shadow on a large proportion of the subjects facial features to create contrast between light and shade, with only a small part of the subject being highlighted.









The technical setup for edge lighting is similar in a way to Rembrandt lighting with small changes including less light being used. Firstly the key light must be placed at a 90 degree angle to the subject and it must be at eye level, the camera must face the subject a 0 degree angle while the subject is turned towards the space between the camera and key light at a 30 degree angle, if a fill light is used it must be at a 70-80 degree angle to the subject on the opposite side to the key light.

Diagram of Edge lighting setup