The definition of high key lighting is a style of lighting for film, television, or photography that reduces the lighting ratio in the scene. In the first days of film, this was done to deal with high contrast, but now it’s used by filmmakers to adjust the mood and tone of a scene.
High Key Lighting:
Dominated by white tones from bright lights
Minimal use of blacks and mid-range tones
Tone can be optimistic or hopeful Used in a lot of pop music video lighting setups