Character Lighting Study

Character Lighting Study
Low-Key Lighting

I recently completed a character lighting study, focusing on low-key lighting. After exploring multiple references, I chose a shot from Joker (2019) that had all the elements I was looking for: high contrast between lights and shadows, deep dark tones, and a dramatic mood. For this project, I did the texturing in Substance Painter, shading and lighting in Maya, rendering using Redshift, and the final composite in Nuke.

Credits
Character Groom by - https://www.therookies.co/u/sailesh027
Character Rig from - https://agora.community/content/twigs

What is Low-key Lighting?

Low-key lighting is a type of lighting style used in photography, film, and television that accentuates shadows, high contrast, and dark tones. The visual aesthetic of low-key lighting is usually achieved by using hard sources or key lights with minimal to no fill light.

Final Render

Reference Study (Joker 2019)

Studying a reference before starting a project is crucial, as it helps in planning and working more efficiently. When analyzing a reference, I prefer to categorize lights into primary and secondary sources.

Primary lights are the most important and noticeable ones, such as the light coming from the screen right (Key) and the light from the back of the character (Rim). These lights play a crucial role in highlighting and shaping the character's silhouette and features.

Secondary lights, on the other hand, are not as dominant as the primary lights but still contribute to filling the shadows and shaping the character. In this case, it includes the ambient light coming from the set (Fill).

Another valuable technique, learned from Francesco Giroldini's Value Groups class, involves simplifying the reference into distinct value groups. This method of breaking down a complex image into simple blocks of values and colors helps in studying the image's value structure.

This is not a perfect example but it helps.

Comparison

Values Comparison

Lighting Breakdown

Key Light

This is the main source of light which illuminates most part of the character. I used warm color for this light to simulate the effect of warm spotlights on the stage and to match the overall mood of the reference. I also used small spread value for this light to get harsh shadows on the character.

Fill Light

I used a simple dome light with a solid color and low exposure value for this light.

Rim Light

Here, I've used two separate Rim lights to isolate the character from the background. Rather than of using one large rim light, i decided to use 2 small rim lights. It gives me more control over their spread, exposure value and position. 
The first rim light is positioned in such a way that it highlights the back of his hair and subsurface on this ear. The Second rim light is positioned to slightly wrap around his facial feature and the front of his hair.

Key Wrap

This is one of the most important light in a rig as it helps soften the terminator line of a shadow without changing the lighting quality of the image.
I created the key wrap by duplicating the key light and making it much bigger than the key light. Key wrap typically has low exposure value, more saturated color and higher spread value than the key light. I've positioned the key wrap to wrap around the character's facial feature and soften the terminator line.

This is how the image looks with and without the Key Wrap light.

Light Groups

I exported all the lights as a separate light group in render passes, This enables us to make changes in comp without having to re-render the entire image. Which will ultimately speed up the process and allow us to work more efficiently.

Render Passes

I also exported Specular lighting, Subsurface scattering, Ambient occlusion and Zdepth pass. These additional AOVs will help us later during compositing, allowing us to further enhance and achieve the desired look.

Compositing

I added additional treatments such as Grading, Depth of field, Glow, Light wrap, vignette, Chromatic aberration, Grain and Lens distortion in comp to achieve the final look.

Here's how the image looks both with and without these treatments.

Comp Breakdown

This concludes a brief breakdown of my Character Lighting Study. The focus of this study was on practicing and learning new skills throughout the process, always striving to acquire new knowledge and enhance my abilities with each project.

Thank you!