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Portrait Lighting Tutorial

Learning how to properly light the portrait subject can be a challenge because the lighting used will drastically affect the appearance and mood of the finished portrait. Fortunately, the most basic and common techniques can be easily employed. Each uses two lights, a primary light that changes based on the technique and a dimmer secondary light directly behind and above the camera.
  1. Broad Portrait Lighting

    • With this method, the subject points his nose to one side of the camera, and the secondary light is positioned on the opposite side of the camera, illuminating the side of the face that is more visible from the camera's perspective (the "broad side").

    Short Portrait Lighting

    • With this technique, the subject points her nose to the same side of the camera that the secondary light is positioned on so that it illuminates the side of her face that is less visible from the camera (the "short side").

    Rembrandt Portrait Lighting

    • This method is a subcategory of short portrait lighting. The subject and secondary light are adjusted specifically to create a triangle of light on the broad side of the subject's face.

    Split Portrait Lighting

    • With this technique, the subject looks directly toward the camera, and the secondary light is positioned directly to his side so that one half of his face is completely illuminated and the other half is completely in shadow.

    Butterfly Portrait Lighting

    • With this method, the subject looks directly toward the camera, and the secondary light is positioned directly in line with the primary light and the camera, illuminating the entire face and creating a small, butterfly-shaped patch of shadow underneath her nose.

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