5 Portrait Lighting Styles

Lighting has three main purposes:

1. Create an illusion of depth (modeling).

2. Create a mood.
3. Normalize (or, conversely, emphasize) the subject's features.
We will be using a basic lighting set up, setting the grounds for infinite possibilities and
variations with the corresponding softness or hardness of light .

Flat lighting is even front lighting of a subject, producing little contrast, no shadows,
and no modeling.

Split Lighting adds a sense of drama to a portrait. It literally splits the subject’s face
into a highlight and a shadow (i.e. half of the subject's face is lit, while the other half is
left in the dark) and the light is evenly divided over the subject.Split lighting at its most
basic level is constructed with a single light source, placed 90 degrees offset from the
subject and a bit higher than eye level.

Rembrandt lighting, can be achieved by placing the key light high and to one side, at
the front, and the fill light ( or a reflector ) at half-height and on the other side at the
front, set to about half the power of the key light. Thus, one side of the face (the far
side), is fully illuminated (lit well) from the main light source (the key light), while the
other side of the face uses the interaction of shadows and light, also known
as chiaroscuro lighting, to create this characteristic geometric form, an illuminated
triangle or diamond-like shape visible (right )underneath the eye.( on one side of the
face.), between the bottom of the eyesocket, the cheekbone and the nose. It is named
after the Dutch painter Rembrandt, who popularized it through his paintings

Loop Lighting is almost an incomplete Rembrandt; the light does not close into a
triangle shape but instead extends downwards from the side of the nose and the chin,
creating a “loop” of shadow under the nose.

Butterfly Lighting (or Paramount Lighting) is a flattering, overhead light typically used
for glamour portraits.

All of the aforementioned patterns/styles can be either done with broad or short lighting.
For the purposes of our video we are using Broad lighting which simply refers to the
main light illuminates the side of the subject facing the camera -the broad view.
It tends to flatten the illusion of depth and de-emphasize facial features.