Chiaroscuro lighting is a high-contrast lighting technique that utilises a low-key lighting setup to achieve contrast between the model and the dark background. Photographers use chiaroscuro lighting to highlight the model and create depth to the background.

Chiaroscuro is lighting used with portrait pictures to create a split of light and shadow. ( Italian for “lightdark”) and is defined as a bold contrast between light and dark. A certain amount of chiaroscuro is the effect of light modelling in painting where 3-dimensional volume is suggested by highlights and shadows. It first appeared in 15th century painting in Italy and Flanders, but true chiaroscuro developed during the 16th century, in Mannerism and it baroque art.

As you can see in the image above, to achieve the chiaroscuro lighting the subject needs to be facing straight in front of the camera and there needs to be a fill light on the right of the subject and a key-light to the right of the subject.