What is Butterfly Lighting and How to Use It for Portrait Photos
-
Loading... - Fabricio Poblete
- 19 Jan 2023
- 75 Views
- 0 Like
- 0 Comment
Butterfly lighting has long been a “go-to” setup for fashion close-ups as well as other portraits where one wants to emphasize cheekbones and frame the face in shadows from below the chin.
In this guide, we will introduce the basics of butterfly lighting, from what it is to how you can set it up yourself for beautiful portraits.
Table of Contents
- What is Butterfly Lighting?
- Why Use Butterfly Lighting?
- How to Set Up Butterfly Lighting
- One Light Only?
- Changing It Up
- Butterfly Lighting is Not Forgiving
What is Butterfly Lighting?
Butterfly lighting is a basic and popular lighting pattern used by portrait photographers in which the main light is above and in light with the subject’s face and the camera.
The name refers to the “butterfly”-shaped shadow seen under the nose, like the one seen in Figure 1 of Alison. I say “usually” because the shadow may not be as strongly defined as in Figure 1 depending on the relative size of the light source and how much the light is diffused. Read More…
