Portrait lighting patterns

Portrait photographers and painters name a handful of lighting set-ups by the shadow they leave on the face. Butterfly puts a small shadow under the nose from a lamp straight ahead and above.

Loop moves the lamp a little to the side so the nose shadow loops toward the cheek. Rembrandt lights the far cheek with a small triangle of light under the eye.

Where the nose shadow and the cheek light fall in each pattern, seen from the camera.

Split lights exactly half the face. Rim lights only the edge from behind. Under-lighting, from below, reads as unnatural.

1

Butterfly: a small shadow directly under the nose, a shadow under the chin.

AZ 0° EL 50°

darkest 37%average 56%brightest 82%lit 45%

2

Loop: the nose shadow reaches toward the corner of the mouth but does not join the cheek shadow.

AZ 25° EL 35°

darkest 34%average 59%brightest 83%lit 59%

3

Rembrandt: the nose shadow and the cheek shadow join, leaving a small triangle of light on the shadowed cheek.

AZ 48° EL 40°

darkest 32%average 54%brightest 80%lit 50%

4

Split: the dividing line runs down the centre of the face, nose included.

AZ 90° EL 8°

darkest 32%average 46%brightest 78%lit 32%

Try the set-up buttons, then find the patterns yourself: butterfly, loop, Rembrandt, split. The text below names the one you have made.

Each card is one lamp position: the picture it makes, a diagram of where the lamp stands (azimuth is measured from the camera: 0° is a lamp at the camera, positive turns it toward the picture’s left, 180° is straight behind; elevation is the angle above the table), and the values measured on the form itself.

Butterfly

AZ 0° EL 50°

darkest 37%average 56%brightest 82%lit 45%

Load in the room →

Loop

AZ 25° EL 35°

darkest 34%average 59%brightest 83%lit 59%

Load in the room →

Rembrandt

AZ 48° EL 40°

darkest 32%average 54%brightest 80%lit 50%

Load in the room →

Split

AZ 90° EL 8°

darkest 32%average 46%brightest 78%lit 32%

Load in the room →

Rim

L1 AZ 155° EL 22° · L2 AZ 25° EL 5°

darkest 34%average 44%brightest 66%lit 11%

Load in the room →

Under

AZ 0° EL -45°

darkest 34%average 60%brightest 94%lit 46%

Load in the room →

Start with the preset buttons, then drag the lamp from Loop to Rembrandt and stop the moment the triangle of light appears under the eye. Turn the bust with the Turntable slider to see how a turned head changes the pattern.

Open this lesson in the Light Study Room

The room opens with the shape and the first set-up already loaded, and the same diagram you see here follows your lamp as you move it. Drag the lamp’s marker on the picture, or move it on the pad, and switch between Picture, Light only, Surface and Shadow. Or open it from inside the studio: the Study button in the bottom bar, then Academy lessons. The Light Study Room is a separate classroom for learning light on 3D shapes; when you are ready, “Send to studio” takes the shape into the main editor.

Exercises

1. Create the Rembrandt triangle, then move the lamp 10 degrees in each direction. When does the triangle break?
2. Start at Butterfly and move the lamp to the side in small steps until it becomes Loop, then Split.
3. Light the male bust with the same six patterns. What does the bigger jaw change?

Rembrandt →Caravaggio →Frazetta →