What is butterfly lighting ?

Butterfly lighting is a portrait lighting pattern where the key light is above the photographers camera to ensure that the light is pointing down on the subjects face. This creates a shadow under the subjects nose and creates an illusion of a butterfly under the nose.

Butterfly lighting is when there is a shadow on the face just below the nose shaped like a butterfly. It is a technique used by many photographers to achieve a very elegant and sophisticated image.

Why do photographers use it ?

Butterfly lighting is used for flattering and glamorous portrait photos. The lighting is usually soft on the face and an advantage of using this type of lighting is that it can be used on almost all faces and it is extremely easy to set up.

As you can see from this image of the setup, the lighting is placed above the camera with the subject in front of the camera facing forward. There is also a reflector underneath the models face which reflects the lighting upwards and helps to create the butterfly shadow underneath the nose. There is a plain backdrop behind the model to enhance the models face and to ensure that the model is the main focus of the photo. For Butterfly lighting you can use any coloured background as it doesn’t matter as long as there is a shadow underneath the nose of the model.

Butterfly Portrait Mood Board

Edited Portrait Photos