In television, film, stage, or photographic lighting, a fill light (often simply fill) may be used to reduce the contrast of a scene and provide some illumination for the areas of the image that are in shadow. A common lighting

Lighting

Lighting or illumination is the deliberate application of light to achieve some practical or aesthetic effect. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources such as lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight...

 setup places the fill light on the lens axis, roughly perpendicular to the key light

Key light

The key light is the first and usually most important light that a photographer, cinematographer, lighting cameraman, or other scene composer will use in a lighting setup. The purpose of the key light is to highlight the form and dimension of the subject. The key light is not a rigid requirement;...

.

The fill light is often softer and, by definition, less intense than the key light. The ratio

Lighting ratio

Lighting ratio in photography refers to the comparison of key light to the fill light . The higher the lighting ratio, the higher the contrast of the image; the lower the ratio, the lower the contrast.Light can be measured in footcandles...

 between light and shadow depends on the desired effect. For example, a fill light that is a small fraction of the power of the key light will produce very high-contrast or low-key lighting

Low-key lighting

Low-key lighting is a style of lighting for photography, film or television. It is a necessary element in creating a chiaroscuro effect. Traditional photographic lighting, three-point lighting uses a key light, a fill light, and a back light for illumination...

, while filling with half or more of the key light power will produce a high key

High-key lighting

High-key lighting is a style of lighting for film, television, or photography that aims to reduce the lighting ratio present in the scene. This was originally done partly for technological reasons, since early film and television did not deal well with high contrast ratios, but now is used to...

, low-contrast tone.

An alternative to using a direct light source as a fill is to re-direct or "bounce" the key light towards the subject by using a reflector

Reflector (photography)

In photography and cinematography, a reflector is an improvised or specialised reflective surface used to redirect light towards a given subject or scene.- Types :...

.

See also

• Ambient light
• Lighting ratio
  Lighting ratio
  Lighting ratio in photography refers to the comparison of key light to the fill light . The higher the lighting ratio, the higher the contrast of the image; the lower the ratio, the lower the contrast.Light can be measured in footcandles...
  
  
• Low-key lighting
  Low-key lighting
  Low-key lighting is a style of lighting for photography, film or television. It is a necessary element in creating a chiaroscuro effect. Traditional photographic lighting, three-point lighting uses a key light, a fill light, and a back light for illumination...
  
  
• High-key lighting
  High-key lighting
  High-key lighting is a style of lighting for film, television, or photography that aims to reduce the lighting ratio present in the scene. This was originally done partly for technological reasons, since early film and television did not deal well with high contrast ratios, but now is used to...
  
  
• Fill flash
  Fill flash
  Fill flash is a photographic technique used to brighten deep shadow areas, typically outdoors on sunny days, though the technique is useful any time the background is significantly brighter than the subject of the photograph, particularly in backlit subjects...
  
  

External links

• Examples of filling for high-key and low-key lighting