Rembrandts origin came from the Dutch painter. Rembrandts lighting technique is where he has a spot light at a 45 degree angle to the side of his model and the shadow from the light creates a triangle on the side of the face that does not have the light on it. This creates the triangle and it lights up the other eye making it become more visible.
This technique makes the models face brighter and highlights the eye to give the image a more interesting complexion.
Photo Analysis
The model is having their photograph taken on a black background, and the colour from their faces and their clothes contrasts against the black background and it gives a vibrant bit of colour. The form of these photos are all 3D and the texture is trying to represent the texture of one of his paintings but his photos all have a clean look.
Rembrandt lighting is a technique for portrait photography named after Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, the great Dutch painter. It refers to a way of lighting a face so that an upside-down light triangle appears under the eyes of the subject.
Rembrandt lighting is characterized by an illuminated triangle under the eye of the person, particularly on the less illuminated side of the face. It’s a popular technique because it creates images that look both dramatic yet natural.
Rembrandt photography :
Rembrandt context/analysis
Rembrandt lighting is a technique utilizing one light and one reflector or two separate lights. It’s a popular technique because it creates images that look both dramatic yet natural. It’s predominantly characterized by a lit-up triangle underneath the subject’s eye on the less illuminated area of the face.
Why was Rembrandt important?
Rembrandt Harmen zoon van Rijnprolific was seen as a painter, draftsman, and etcher, Rembrandt van Rijn is usually regarded as the greatest artist of Holland’s “Golden Age.” This technique was made during the Renaissance period, but Rembrandt then pushed t even further and used dramatic lighting to lure out the ‘psychological depth’ of his models.
what to use when taking photos in the style of Rembrandt :
you can use…
one type of lighting that is usually placed at a 45 degree angle on the side of your model, take photos from whichever side of your model that you would like the triangle shape to form on.
here are my camera settings :
My response :
contact sheet :
Best 3 images :
In my images I have used one type of continuous lighting placed at an angle to the side of my model, I asked my model to tilt her head slightly to give the Rembrandt effect where the triangle is visible on the right side of her face. This image is all natural colourings other then the editing which has been done to the images where I had changed the saturation, the dark and bright areas have been adjusted and I had cropped the images to fit a portrait shaped canvas. immediately with all these images my eye gets drawn straight to the lit up areas of the images.
Butterfly lighting is a portrait lighting pattern where the key light is placed above and directly centred with a subject’s face. This creates a shadow under the nose that resembles a butterfly. Butterfly lighting is often used in portrait photography, especially in headshots. Butterfly lighting is commonly used to photograph famous stars from classic Hollywood.
Its main features are cheapness, versatility for almost all types of faces, and the fact that it is easy to set. The butterfly lighting creates a soft and flattering effect on the subject’s face. Another feature of butterfly lighting is it creates a slimmer look on the subject’s face due to the shadows that are created on both sides of it.
When making a Butterfly lighting setup, the light source should be placed directly above and slightly in front of the subject’s face, creating a small butterfly-shaped shadow under the nose. The technique is achieved by placing a light source at a 45-degree angle to the subject, slightly above eye level. The result is a soft and flattering effect that adds depth and dimension to the subject’s face. Butterfly lighting can also be achieved using natural lighting. In order to achieve butterfly lighting using natural light, you can position the subject facing a window or door where the light source is coming from directly above.
How to create a butterfly lighting portrait:
Position the subject in between the background and the light.
Lift the light source above the subject’s eye level.
Put a reflector underneath the subject’s chin.
Stand under the light and start shooting – Keep the subject looking straight ahead.
Butterfly Lighting Photoshoot:
For this photoshoot, I took studio portraits using a butterfly lighting technique. In order to achieve this type of lighting, I first placed my light source directly in front of my subject. Next, I raised up the Lightsource so that it was above the person I was photographing’s head. Finally, I got another person to hold a reflector slightly below the subject’s chin in order to reflect the light from the Lightsource back onto the face at the chin. I had to adjust the angle at which I took my photographs in order to get the most defined butterfly shape below the nose. I also got my subject to experiment with her poses as I found the straight on, hands down pictures to become quite repetitive and boring. She then put her hands up to her head in order to create a more interesting photograph.
I used Lightroom in order to edit my images. I altered and experimented with the contrast, exposure, highlights, shadows, whites and blacks of the photographs until I was left with an image I was satisfied with. Finally, to complete my photoshoot on butterfly lighting, I decided to turn my images black and white as this is what the majority of the images I saw online had.
Overall, I like how this photoshoot came out as a first attempt at trying to create butterfly lighting. I feel it helped me to become more confident using a camera and its different settings. However, if I were to do this photoshoot again, I would try and make the butterfly shadow under the subject’s nose more pronounced as I feel in some of the images it wasn’t as clear as I wanted it to be. Next time, I may try and put the Lightsource up higher in order to cast a bigger, more defined shadow under the nose.
Definition: Chiaroscuro lighting is a high-contrast lighting technique that utilises a low-key lighting setup to achieve contrast between the subject and a dark background.
Examples of this lighting:
This lighting is used for balancing high-contrast light and shade to give the appearance of depth, creating an enhanced or more dramatic effect. It illuminates the subjects and emphasizes them.
The photographs taken with this lighting technique are often monochrome. This is because it works well with the high contrast.
It originated in Italy where it started off as an art movement and was developed by Leonardo Davinci, Caravaggio, Vermeer, and Rembrandt during the Renaissance period.
Setup
Light – The way to set up this lighting is by placing a single light source at an angle to the subject.
Definition – Butterfly lighting is a lighting technique that uses a key light is placed above and directly centered with a subject’s face.
Examples of this lighting being used:
This lighting is used for taking soft, flattering and glamorous portrait photos. The lighting forms a butterfly-like shape under the subject’s nose which gave it it’s name.
It is also very good to use for portraits because it highlights the subject’s main features such as their cheekbones and nose. This lighting has versatility for almost all types of faces which makes it easy to use on any subject.
It originates back to the Golden Age of Hollywood. It was widely used by Hollywood glamour photographers in the 1930s and 1940s to capture the beauty of Hollywood stars.
Setup
Light – The way to set up this type of lighting is by using a single light source which goes directly in line with the subject’s face and the camera. Sometimes the shadows can be a bit too deep/dark so you can use a reflector which can be placed below the subject’s face.
Lens – Because this lighting is mainly used for portraiture, you should use a 85mm lens. This focal length will help to compress the features of your subject and make them look more flattering.
Own response to this type of lighting
Setup – I have placed the lighting in front and a bit above my subject as well as used a reflector to add more light to my subject’s features.
When editing the photos I actually really liked how most of them turned out but I just was changing the exposure and blacks to give a deeper effect that I was looking for and could even change some into black and white to be like the inspiration.
Rembrandt Edited Photos;
The photo on the right is my edited version, I just changed some of the shadowing to give an affect of more contrast and I wanted to show off the triangle on the opposite cheek from the light so it gives the Rembrandt effect.
I tried it in Black and white but I wasn’t a massive fan and am going to try that more for the other lighting techniques or photos to see if it works.
Butterfly Edited photos;
Most Butterfly lighting Photos I saw and used as inspiration were in black and white and once I edited and put this photo into black and white I really liked it I thought it gave a good effect to the photo and made the white pop.
Rembrandt lighting is a standard lighting technique that is used in studio portrait photography. and cinematography; it is also used in contrast with butterfly lighting It can be achieved using one light and a reflector or two lights, and is popular because it is capable of producing images which appear both natural and compelling with a minimum of equipment. Rembrandt lighting is characterized by an illuminated triangle under the eye of the subject on the less illuminated side of the face. It is named after the Dutch painter Rembrandt, who occasionally used this type of lighting.
Here are some examples of Rembrandt lighting:
My photoshoots:
For my photos the Chiaroscuro photos are coloured yellow, the Rembrandt photos are red and the butterfly photos are coloured green
I chose these photos because they are the best pictures I got of the Rembrandt photos, you can really see the triangle under the eye and the definition of it in these photos. I edited one photo with colour and another black and white to try it with two different styles. I prefer the black and white as it represents the lighting style better in my opinion. I also experimented with a white background but it didn’t have the same effect as the black background as it didn’t reflect the triangle onto the face as well as the black background.
Here are some photos I had taken in the studio and they were all mixed lighting so that we could see what one we could get on each model, we tried to make different background colours to see what looked best and experimented were to place each light and what effect it would have on the model and the photograph. I’ve managed to get a photograph of the butterfly and Rembrandt however I wasn’t able to get any Chiaroscuro photos where there is split lighting and half of the models face has a shadow on it and helps us see the facial features a little bit better.
If I were to do this again I would have likes to have take more photo o see if someone of them turned out better, I would have tried to keep some of the photos in colour to see if the lighting would have changed in any way or if it would make the different lighting stand out, I do like that they are in black and white as if adds a totally different effect to the photo and almost makes the photo look more modern in a slight way depending on how you view it, as it could also look quite old aa back in the that cameras didn’t capture any colour. I feel as though putting my photos into black and white helps elevate the light shades grow as you can see on the bottom right photo you can see a bright shadow and the model cheeks bones and their nose, this then shows me how much of effect each lighting position can change the lighting and whether the photo is in black and white.
here I to tried add some of Oliver Doran’s ideas into my photo by making the photo black and white, I also tried to get some of his style of photography into my work, although Oliver takes portraits of people you tend to see their whole bodies in the shot where as only the shoulders and head is visible, if I were to redo this I would try and add some of the models whole bodies into the shot as this really changes the photos perspective.
Chiaroscuro lighting (Italian for “lightdark”) is a technique within portrait photography which utilises a low-key lighting setup to achieve contrast between the subject and a dark background to create additional depth.
Chiaroscuro typically provides a high contrast between light and dark and a sense of drama and intensity which remains striking today. This technique emphasises the subject and features by drawing the eye to the subject, and creates a three-dimensional quality in photographs.
History of Chiaroscuro Lighting
Chiaroscuro lighting originated in the Renaissance period but is most notably associated with Baroque art. This technique first appeared in the 15th century, but true chiaroscuro developed during the 16th century, in Mannerism and in Baroque art. Chiaroscuro in film: Film noir (French for “black film”), is a cinematic term is generally regarded as originating from the early 1940s to the late 1950s.
Chiaroscuro Lighting Setup
Chiaroscuro lighting is created by using one key light and a reflector that reflects the key light back onto the subject.
He’s a portrait & advertising photographer working between Jersey, London, Paris and Dubai. He loves cinematic and theatrical imagery mainly of humans but also, as any professional photographer, he delve into other areas of the photographic world including; product, food, interiors and architecture.
He’s photographer who views light as the primary narrator of his stories. His photographic journey has been transformative and enriched by ongoing learning and heartfelt connections with people. He developed his skills over a decade in the Middle East, collaborating with renowned brands like Cartier and Dior, and contributing to high-profile magazines such as Esquire, GQ, and Cosmopolitan. He had the privilege to photograph celebrities like Robert De Niro, Roger Federer, and Sir Ben Kingsley.
Returning to his roots in Jersey, Channel Islands, he immersed himself in portrait photography. him and his team strive to capture the essence of their subjects, a process that begins well before his camera clicks. Building relationships with their subjects, from calls and interviews to casual chats, helps them truly understand their personalities.
As technology evolved, they found a new passion in blending Digital Art & AI with his unique lighting style, leading to innovative photographic art. This exploration birthed the ‘Fantastic Beasts Society’, a vibrant series where animals wear haute couture, captivating viewers of all ages.
His photos are always taken in black and white which makes the photo look a lot more minimalistic and modern, what i don’t like about his work is that he has his own makeup artist and stylist which could be good for certain things however i feel like portrait’s should be taken of someone’s natural state and they should dress how they would normally to show who you truly are and not a fake version of yourself. This could be taken to the completely different context and maybe the stylist is there to help you wear something you wold like but don’t possibly own, same with the makeup maybe someone doesn’t know how to do professional make up and want to experience having it and especially having it when you are getting your portrait taken. Personally I really like how his photos have turned out as he gets the model to stand or sit a certain way and he gets props involved which can give a better back story of the photo, as each photo has a story behind it whether its basic portrait it still holds meaning, like why was it taken?, and why is the model look at the camera/side a certain way, its a mystery and the props in the photo hold evidence of some of the meaning.
