High Key Lighting

High key lighting is a lighting technique used in film and photography which puts a lot of light on the subjects face. This helps to reduce contrast and create stronger meanings, like purity or spiritualness and is often used in shots with babies, children or the elderly. This can be achieved in a studio or with natural light.
Another key characteristic of high key lighting is the catch light in the eye of the subject, which most applies to photography, but this helps to give life to them and avoid them looking dead or vacant.An example of high key lighting to show spirituality is a scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows where Harry dies and is in limbo. He sees the late dumbledore as spirit form. The station he is in is blinding white and him and dumbledore are shown in high key lighting