Three Point Lighting Setup

 when it comes to lighting a subject, The three-point lighting setup is a traditional setup that is commonly used in most cases in photography. the lights used in this setup are placed in three key positions that all have a purpose. the three lights used are; the key light which is your primary source of light which is usually in front of the subject, the fill light which is used to reduce contrast, and the fill light which is used to separate the subject from the background. the three-point allows the photographer to create a 3D look by the placement of the lights. a thing to keep in consideration is the brightness intensity as well as the placement of each light. each light will need to be at a certain brightness to allow different atmospheric aesthetics to be given to the shot. a cinematic look is created by having the intensity of the key light double the fill light creating contrast within the shot. if all light is at the same intensity the image will end up looking rather flat and unnatural thus being the reason why it is good to consider the intensity of each light.

Key Light

This is your primary source of lighting that will be lighting your subject. this light is usually placed in front of your subject at a 45-degree angle which can obviously be changed depending on how you want your overall shot to look. You would set up your key light first so you can determine where and how you are going to set up your other lights. 

Fill light

this light is used to fill any unlit spots within your shot to reduce any contrasts. this is placed opposite of the key light but still in front of the subject. the intensity of this light should be about half as bright compared to the key light so it brings depth to your scene allowing it to have a more cinematic look. depending on the look you would like to achieve will depend on the brightness of the fill light. a dramatic shot will not have an intense fill light or in some sort of promotional message, the fill light will be rather bright to reduce contrast. 

Back Light 

The last that needs to be considered is the backlight, this light is used to stop the flat look that the key and fill light creates so the backlight is used to stop that look. this light creates separation between the subject and the foreground bringing back the three-dimensional look. this light should be placed behind the subject and on the same side as the key light and should be less intense than the other two lights other this will overpower the shot.