Butterfly lighting is a technique where the light source is placed directly above at an angle and slightly in front of the subjects face, this then creates a butterfly-shaped shadow under the nose. Also called paramount lighting, it is often used to photograph some of the famous Hollywood stars as well as in fashion photography, making it commonly well known for defining the subjects cheek bones making the subject look thinner and eyes look bigger.

Butterfly lighting can be achieved by either using flash lights or continuous light, if continuous is can be natural or artificial, meaning using LEDs or strobe lights. To create the butterfly effect you use can use reflectors which reflect the light back, which creates the butterfly shadow.