I wasn't intending to be prickly about the subject of lighting "stars". Certainly there are some talent who know, in a relative way, what they want for lighting. They know -- because they start to develop a comparative memory of what looked good and what didn't -- what kind of lights they want to see pointed at their face to be reassured that the lighting might turn out okay. But stars also leave a lot of the lighting to the various professionals who DP their shoots. They have to have some trust otherwise they would be worried about how they might look when they should be focusing on the interview or the standup.
Most high level television journalists want to see their shot. And it's certainly a nice affirmation to have them approve when they look at the monitor. A good DP develops a basic technique for lighting faces. Then they vamp off of that technique, making the necessary adjustments for the particular person they are lighting. For instance, some DPs use a 650 fresnel with Opal frost pointed directly at an aging female reporter's face as the key light. That technique -- because the light is harder and used pointed straight on -- is a method for dealing with wrinkles. Older people tend to have more wrinkles. But the 650 fresnel isn't the best light for everyone. It's a hard light. Most faces look best when they are shot with a big, soft source.
One funny thing I have noticed about shooting start journalists -- or anyone for that matter. When you light a subject they are rarely on location to stand in for their lighting. So we pull in crew people to sit in the chairs to get the lights as right as we can. All of a sudden the talent walks in and we have no time to tweak. But when they sit in that chair, most of them are so interesting and unusual looking that they look great with the lighting at 85% to 90%. When a beautiful female network anchor sits in a chair that has been lit on location, it's a wonderful sight to behold. The lighting looks as good as it gets -- given the compromises you make setting it -- in those situations.