Chapter 11 — Exercises
Lighting is a seeing skill before it is a gear skill, and a doing skill before it is a reading skill. These exercises train both eyes: the one that reads where light falls in the world, and the one that judges the shot on your own monitor. Every shooting exercise here can be done with the kit from §11.6 — a window, one lamp, and a piece of white foamboard — and a phone. You do not need to own a light to complete a single one of them, so there is no excuse to skip the making.
Work them in order the first time through; the sections build the way the chapter did (see, then key, then fill, then rim, then motivate, then combine). After that, treat them as a menu you return to before every real shoot.
Exercises are graded by effort and depth:
- ⭐ Warm-up — a few minutes; locks in a concept or trains the eye.
- ⭐⭐ Core — the real practice; do as many of these as you can.
- ⭐⭐⭐ Stretch — deeper or more ambitious; where the biggest gains are.
Model solutions and critiques for the starred and odd-numbered exercises are collected in Answers to Selected Exercises at the back of the book. Try each one before reading its answer — a light you placed wrong on set teaches more than an answer you only read. Keep every clip you shoot; watching your own before-and-afters is the single most persuasive lighting teacher there is.
A. Seeing the light (Eye & Ear Training)
These need no camera — only your attention. They build the reflex every shooter runs on: where is the light coming from, and what is it doing? Do them in the ordinary course of your day, so lighting analysis becomes automatic rather than an assignment.
1. ⭐ Find the key. For one full day, every time you watch a video with a person's face in it, pause and answer one question out loud: where is the key light? Left, right, above, below, a window, a lamp, straight-on? Do it ten times, and for the three most interesting, note how you could tell (the bright cheek, the catchlight, the nose shadow). Add the best observation to your Frame Log. (Answer discusses what to look for.)
2. ⭐ Read the shadow. Look at ten faces around you today — in person, in photos, on screen. For each, decide in one word: is the light hard (crisp shadow edges) or soft (gradual)? Then name the source that made it, and check your logic against the "apparent size of source" rule. (Answer provided.)
3. ⭐⭐ Catchlight hunt. In five portraits, photos, or interview frames, find the catchlight in the eyes and use its clock position to deduce where the key was placed (a catchlight at "10 o'clock" means the key was up and to the subject's right). Sketch the eye and the dot for each, then sketch where the key must have been. A doughnut-shaped catchlight tells you something specific — what? (Answer provided.)
4. ⭐⭐ Motivated or not? Watch a scripted scene and a reality/vlog scene, 60 seconds each. For every source of light you can identify, decide whether it is motivated (you can point to where in the room it "comes from") or unmotivated. Which scene felt more like a real place, and did the presence of motivation predict it? (Answer discusses.)
5. ⭐⭐⭐ The lighting map, from a still. Freeze one frame of a well-lit interview or portrait. From the shadows, the catchlight, the separation, and the background, reverse-engineer a top-down lighting map using the book's frozen legend — place the key (▢/☀), any fill (○), any rim (▣), any practical (▽), and the camera ([CAM]). You are guessing from evidence; that is exactly the skill. Then say, in one sentence, how confident you are and why. (Model map provided.)
B. Reading Described Shots (Read the Sequence)
Analyzing a shot in words is how you convert a vague "that looks good" into a setup you could rebuild. Read each figure slowly, and translate its light into the chapter's three jobs — shape (key), mood (fill/contrast), and depth (rim) — before you critique or extend it.
6. ⭐ Name the three jobs. Re-read FIGURE 11.6 (the confessional interview look). In THE LIGHT field, underline which words describe the key, which describe the fill/contrast, and which describe separation. If any of the three jobs isn't mentioned, note it — an absence is a decision too. (Answer provided.)
7. ⭐⭐ Diagnose the field. In FIGURE 11.6, the fill is "kept low." Rewrite THE LIGHT and THE EFFECT as if the fill were raised to equal the key (0 stops of contrast). How does the feeling change, and what genre would that flatter version suit? Name one thing gained and one thing lost. (Answer provided.)
8. ⭐⭐ Critique the map. Look again at FIGURE 11.4 (the three-point map). A student copies it but places the rim on the same side as the key. Name what goes wrong and why, and prescribe the fix in one move. Then name a second common error you can spot people making with the rim. (Answer provided.)
9. ⭐⭐⭐ Write your own Described Shot. Watch a 20–40-second interview or portrait sequence you admire and write a full seven-field Described Shot for one shot, with special care in THE LIGHT: name the key's direction and quality, estimate the key-to-fill contrast in stops, and say whether there is a rim and any practicals. Then add THE LESSON — the one transferable idea. (Model answer provided.)
C. Building the setup (Shoot This)
The heart of the chapter. Make things. All of these are doable with a window, one lamp, and a white board — and every one produces a clip worth keeping.
10. ⭐ Overhead off. Shoot ten seconds of a face under a room's ceiling light. Then turn the overhead off, turn the subject toward a window or lamp, and shoot ten more. Watch them back to back on the largest screen you have. Write one sentence naming what the overhead was doing to the eyes and to the shape. (Model self-critique provided.)
11. ⭐⭐ The one-light key, five positions. If you have not done the §11.2 🎬 On Set, do it now: one source, same face, five key positions (frontal, 45°+up, 90° side, backlit, under-lit), ten seconds each. Watch all five. Which serves a warm interview, which serves a thriller, and why — stated in terms of the shadow the position creates, not just "it looks better"? (Answer provided.)
12. ⭐⭐ Add the fill, dial the contrast. Set a clean 45°+up key. Now shoot the shadow side at three contrasts by moving a white bounce card: (a) card close (≈1 stop under), (b) card far (≈3 stops under), (c) no card at all (key only). Judge which is the flattering default, which is dramatic, and which you'd never use for a friendly piece. Note how far you had to move the card for each. (Answer provided.)
13. ⭐⭐ Build three-point one light at a time. Do the §11.4 🎬 On Set: record ten seconds after each addition — (1) key only, (2) key + bounce fill, (3) key + fill + rim. Label each clip out loud with the job it added — shape, contrast/mood, or separation/depth. Then remove one light at a time and name what you lose. (Model answer provided.)
14. ⭐⭐ The catchlight test. Light a face so there is a clear catchlight, then move the key until the catchlight disappears (usually by dropping it too low or swinging it too far to the side). Shoot both. On playback, describe what the eyes look like with and without it, in one word each — and note where the key had to go to kill the catchlight. (Answer provided.)
15. ⭐⭐⭐ Motivate it. Light a subject so the key clearly appears to come from a practical in the frame — a table lamp, a window, a screen. A viewer should be able to point at the source. Then shoot a second version where the same light is present but no source is visible in the frame. Watch both. Which feels more like a real place, and can you articulate why even though the light on the face is identical? (Answer provided.)
16. ⭐⭐⭐ One light, three moods. Using a single source and only a bounce card (no second light), shoot the same subject three ways to feel (a) warm and trustworthy, (b) neutral and corporate, (c) tense and dramatic. Change only key position and fill amount. Prove to yourself that one light is enough for a full emotional range — and write the one-sentence recipe you used for each. (Model answer provided.)
D. One subject, many looks (Five Ways)
The fastest way to learn what a variable does is to change only it, five times, and watch the results in a row. Keep the subject, camera, and everything else fixed; move one thing. These three drills isolate the three biggest key variables — horizontal angle, height, and source quality.
17. ⭐⭐ Five key angles. Take one subject and light them five ways, changing only the horizontal key angle: 0° (frontal), 30°, 45°, 60°, 90°. Shoot each for ten seconds. Which is the most flattering, which the most dramatic, and where — between which two angles — is the tipping point from "friendly" to "intense"? (Answer provided.)
18. ⭐⭐ Five heights. Same subject, key fixed at 45° horizontally; now vary only the height: below the chin, at eye level, slightly above, 45° above, and straight overhead. Watch the nose shadow and the eye sockets change. Which two heights would you never use for a friendly interview, and precisely what goes wrong at each? (Answer discusses.)
19. ⭐⭐⭐ Five sources. Light the same face with five different real sources: a window, a bare lamp, a lamp bounced off a wall, a phone LED, and a screen (TV or laptop). Rank them soft-to-hard from the shadow edges alone, and note which flattered the face most. Then explain your ranking using only the "apparent size of the source as seen from the subject" rule. (Answer provided.)
E. Diagnose and repair (Fix the Shot)
Half of lighting on a real set is not building a look from scratch but diagnosing one that's wrong and fixing it fast. Each of these describes a failed shot; name the cause in the chapter's vocabulary before you prescribe the fix, because the right fix always follows from the right diagnosis.
20. ⭐ Fix the raccoon eyes. A described clip: a subject sits under a bright ceiling fixture; their eye sockets are dark pits and the face is flat with no side. Name the cause and the single cheapest fix — one action, no purchase. (Answer provided.)
21. ⭐⭐ Fix the silhouette. A described clip: a person is interviewed sitting with a bright window behind them; their face is a dark shape and the window is blown out. Name every problem, then sort the fixes by what you'd do first (staging, then light, then exposure), referencing Chapter 5 for the exposure part. Which fix is the true root cause? (Answer provided.)
22. ⭐⭐ Fix the merge. A described clip: a dark-haired subject in a black shirt sits against a dark wall and seems to melt into it — no depth, no edge. Which light solves this, exactly where does it go, and what one mistake would make the problem worse instead of better? (Answer provided.)
23. ⭐⭐ Fix the flat corporate look. A described clip: a subject is lit evenly and brightly from both sides — zero shadow, zero shape, "video-conference" flat. The client wants "more cinematic." What do you remove or reduce, and why is removing light — not adding it — the correct fix here? (Answer provided.)
24. ⭐⭐⭐ Fix the flare. A described clip: a rim light behind the subject sprays into the lens; the whole image is hazy and low-contrast. Give three distinct fixes, ranked by which you'd try first and why. Which of the three costs nothing? (Answer provided.)
F. Plan the light (Settings Drill)
A professional walks onto a location already knowing roughly where the key, fill, and rim will go, because they planned it. These drills build that habit — turning a scenario into a concrete lighting plan on paper before a single light is switched on, which is the "fix it in pre, not in post" principle applied to light.
25. ⭐ Read the box. Without looking, list the seven rows of the §11.6 Settings Box (the one-light talking-head) and, for each, say in one phrase why it matters. Then check yourself against the box. Which row do you think beginners most often ignore? (Answer provided.)
26. ⭐⭐ Write the lighting plan. For each scenario, write a starting lighting plan — key (source + position), fill (yes/no + how), rim (yes/no), and one sentence of motivation: (a) a warm testimonial by an office window at noon; (b) a moody musician talking-head at night with one lamp; (c) a bright, clean product-founder piece for a corporate site. Note which scenario wants the least contrast and why. (Model answers provided.)
27. ⭐⭐ Contrast by the numbers. A director asks for "gentle but not flat" on an interview. State the key-to-fill contrast you'd set in stops, how you'd achieve it with a bounce, and how you'd verify it with a Chapter 5 tool rather than trusting your eye. Why can't you trust your eye alone? (Answer provided.)
28. ⭐⭐⭐ Light the Café interior. From memory, draw the Café interior lighting map (window as key, counter lamps as practicals, a bounce for fill) using the book's frozen legend. Then write three sentences: which source is the motivated key, why the counter lamps are called practicals rather than key/fill, and which side the window falls on in the seated reverse — and why that is not a continuity error. (Model answer provided.)
G. Steal a look (Recreate It)
Every look you admire is a setup you can reverse-engineer. Copying a real look on your own subject forces you to notice details you'd skate past as a viewer — and teaches you more than any original attempt, because you have a target to measure against.
29. ⭐⭐ Recreate the window key. Find a real interview or portrait clearly lit by a single soft window key with low fill. Recreate its lighting on your own subject — same key direction, same soft quality, same roughly two-stop contrast — with only a window and a bounce. Compare side by side. What was hardest to match, and what does that tell you about their setup versus yours? (Answer discusses.)
30. ⭐⭐⭐ Recreate the confessional look. Using FIGURE 11.6 as your reference, build the confessional interview look on a friend: soft controlled key, low fill so real shadow models the face, clean separation, a dark deliberate background, and — if you can rig it — a near-lens eyeline. Shoot 30 seconds of them answering one real, quiet question. Then critique your own result against the figure, field by field. (Model answer + checklist provided.)
H. Think in cuts (Cut This)
Light is not just a look; it's a promise to the edit. These two drills prove — with your own footage — that lighting decisions made on set either help or sabotage the cut, which is the whole reason you light for the edit.
31. ⭐⭐ Match the coverage. Shoot a wide and a matching close-up of one lit subject without touching the lights between them. Import both and cut back and forth every few seconds. Does the mood hold, or flicker? Now deliberately change the fill between the two takes and re-cut — feel the flicker appear. Write, in two sentences, what this teaches about locking contrast before you shoot coverage. (Answer provided.)
32. ⭐⭐⭐ Cut a mood from contrast alone. From footage of the same subject lit at two contrasts — flat and dramatic (reuse Exercise 12 or 16) — cut two 15-second pieces of the identical spoken lines: one that feels open and friendly, one that feels tense. Change only which contrast you use and your pacing, never the words. Show both to someone and ask what mood each is in. (Guidance provided.)
I. Bringing it together (Interleaved)
These mix Chapter 11 with earlier chapters, because real shooting never uses one skill at a time.
33. ⭐⭐ Light + frame (Ch.6). Light a talking-head and frame it well at once: subject on a third, correct headroom and lead room (Ch.6), keyed 45° from the side their face turns toward, with a catchlight. Shoot it. Confirm the composition and the light agree rather than fight — the lit side should be the lead-room side. What does it look like when they fight? (Answer provided.)
34. ⭐⭐ Light + expose (Ch.5). Light a subject, then expose properly using the waveform or zebras (Ch.5): protect the highlight on the lit cheek, and check how many stops down the shadow cheek sits. Report your contrast in stops — measured, not guessed — and note whether it matched what your eye told you. (Answer provided.)
35. ⭐⭐⭐ Light + move (Ch.8) + motivate. Give your lit talking-head a slow motivated push-in (Ch.8) that ends as the key models the face most strongly. Both the move and the light must be motivated — write the one-sentence reason for each. Then shoot it and judge whether the two peaks (the end of the move, the strongest modeling) land together. (Model answer provided.)
36. ⭐⭐⭐ The full Café beat. Combine the whole book so far on one Café shot: frame it (Ch.6), pick the shot size (Ch.7), respect screen direction on the reverse (Ch.9), and light it with the window as motivated key and the counter lamps as practicals (Ch.11). Shoot the seated reaction. This is a dress rehearsal for the real Café shoot in Chapter 13 — note anything you'd fix before then. (Answer discusses.)
J. Synthesis
37. ⭐⭐⭐ Teach it back. In about 200 words, explain to a beginner why "you light for the shadow, not the light." Use the flat-face-versus-modeled-face example, the word shape, and one concrete instruction they could follow today with no gear. Teaching a concept is the strongest test that you own it. (Model answer provided.)
38. ⭐⭐⭐ The self-audit. Watch the best talking-head you have shot so far (or your Production Checkpoint clip). Grade it 1–5 on each of: key placement (off-axis? catchlight?), contrast (modeled or flat?), separation (does the subject lift off the background?), and motivation (does the light have a reason?). Your lowest score is your next shoot's focus. Write one sentence on the single change that would raise it most. (Guidance provided.)
K. Make it a habit (Project & Frame Log)
39. ⭐⭐ The pre-flight lighting checklist. Before your next real shoot of a person, write yourself a five-line checklist from this chapter and pin it where you'll see it: (1) overhead off; (2) key 45° + up, catchlight in the eyes; (3) fill to ~2 stops with a bounce; (4) rim/background — does the subject separate?; (5) motivation — can I say where each light comes from? Run it on your Production Checkpoint shoot. Note which line you almost forgot — that's your weak spot. (Model checklist provided.)
40. ⭐⭐ The lighting Frame Log, for a week. Add one lighting observation to your Frame Log every day for a week — always answering "where's the key, and how deep is the fill?" for something you watched. At week's end, read them back. You will notice you now see the key light in everything, automatically. This single habit does more for your lighting eye than any purchase; sustain it and by Chapter 13 (natural light) you will already read a room's light on sight. (Guidance provided.)
When you have done the shooting exercises — especially 11 through 16 — you have the single most valuable visual skill in this book in your hands: you can make a face look like it belongs in a film, with light you didn't buy. Move on to Chapter 12, where we take control of the quality and the color of that light and turn "well-lit" into "beautiful."