3 Point Lighting

This is a very fundamental lighting setup that every 3D modeler must know. Think of selling a car. Do you want it under sparkling lights, that shows off the dimensionality of your model, or a dingy 40 watt light bulb placed high up in a warehouse?

Default max lighting, compared to our final result:

 

Make a teapot set to 16 segments.

Make a plane under the teapot to catch shadows, 1x1 segments.

Make a standard material, just a little lighter than the default material color -- apply to both the plane and the teapot.

Key light

The key light is the primary light upon the subject (or model.) Usually it is positioned to the left of the model and somewhat from above.

Note the position of the light in all viewports.
The easist wy to make this light is to draw it in the front viewport, then move it in the Top viewport to match this screenshot..

This light casts the primary shadows.

Use a Standrard Target Spot.

Start with 1.0 multiplier
Color a very light yellow -- for example, RGB = 255,255,225.
(Click the white color swatch to change the color)
This appromiates the yellow cast of the sun.
Shadows on.
Play with shadow size and sample range for shadow softness.

  

Make sure you set you falloff and hot spot appropriately to get a soft edge of light. If you set it up, then hit Overshoot, the file will light the entire scene, but will only calculate shadows within the fall-off region.

Overshoot off, and overshoot on:

 

 

Fill light

Without a fill light, the key light will cast deep shadows, most often, too deep. The fill light “fills in” those shadows with light. This light is often 90 degrees from the key light as seen from above.

This light is positioned lower, 90 degrees from the key light.
Note light position in all viewports.
Create it by cloning the key light in the top viewport.
Shift drag the light to clone as a copy.
Name it Fill Light.

The cloned light will have inherited all attribute of the original key light.
You will now need to change some values:
The fill light is one third the brightness of a key light, so make the multiplier .33. multiplier light blue -- for example, RGB = 215, 255, 255.
Shadows off.
Exclude floor/ground plane, so there is not a hot spot on the floor.

   

Back light (or rim light)

This rim light (aka a back or kicker light) helps separate the model from the background, especially if the background is dark or similar in color to the model. Note the nice edging that appears on the left side of the model.

This light made the same way as the fill light -- in this case, shift drag ti clone the fill light and name it Rim Light. Drag it so it is almost straight across from the Key Light.
See the viewport image and match that.

iStart the Rim Light very bright so you can see it in the perpective viewport as an edging of light on the left of the teapot.
Set the multiplier 2.0 and back off the brightness a little, after you get it in the right position.
Keep the light blue of the fill light, and no shadows. Keep the same exclude on the floor/ground plane.

Arc rotate to get a great view of your teapot. Finess the position of the Rim Light.
If necessary, rotate the teapot a little to get the most effective view.

Material

Add specularity and gloss settings, being careful to avoid excessive hot spots:

For fun, add a tile to the floor.
Here is a good one. (It is a bump map which is not usually used for this purpose, but it looks good in a lighting study becaseu it is grayscale.)

Arch Mat/Finishes.Flooring.Tile.Square.Blue.1.bump.jpg.