Kicker

Narrative function

The far plane of the face suddenly has a strip of glamour or menace. In noir it can be a streetlight kissing the jaw of someone who is otherwise in the key's shadow.

In a commercial portrait it is the same physics with a kinder color: a small lamp that says the cheek has a plane. It is the wrong tool if you need an even beauty wrap, or if the accent becomes a beam shooting out of the neck.

One kicker. If you add its twin on the other side you are in cross lighting.

How it works

Park a small hard source behind the subject, 30 to 60 degrees off the back axis, at about cheek height or a little above. Flag it off the camera and off the nose.

Hardness should be harder than the key so the accent is a clean line. Color is often a step warmer (tungsten, amber practical) against a cooler key, or white against tungsten.

Prompt: A small warm lamp behind and to the side of [Subject], a thin highlight on the far jaw and coat shoulder only. No beam shooting out of the body.

When to use it

Use it to add a slice of glamour or menace on the far side of a keyed face, for example a jawline in a night interior. Do not fire kickers from both sides unless you want a concert edge.

Compared with similar shots

Rim light traces the whole outline and leaves the cheek darker. Backlight sits more directly behind.

Hair light aims up at the hair, not the jaw. Side lighting keys the face from 90 degrees; a kicker does not become the key.

• Rim LightGraphic silhouette with just enough flesh.
• BacklightSeparate a dark figure from a dark world.
• Three-Point LightingTeachable portrait. Start here, then break it.

In film

Film noir portraits, including work in the neighborhood of Double Indemnity and The Big Combo, use a hard far-side kicker on jaw and shoulder. Commercial portraiture borrowed the same accent with softer keys.

Treat those as a placement, not a costume.

Prompt it

Localize the highlight. Use: "A small warm lamp behind and to the side of [Subject], a thin highlight on the far jaw and coat shoulder only.

" Name left or right. Keep the key on the other side.

A small warm lamp behind and to the side of [Subject], a thin highlight on the far jaw and coat shoulder only. No beam shooting out of the body.

What usually goes wrong

The usual wrong cousin is a rim or a light saber from the neck. The tell is a closed outline, or a shaft growing out of the shoulder.

Fix it by shrinking the source, flagging it, and stopping the highlight on jaw and cloth.

Questions