“Rembrandt lighting adds an element of drama and psychological depth to the character of your sitter.“

Rembrandt lighting takes its name after Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, a 17th-century Dutch painter who was known for using earthy tones and golden highlights to frame the faces of his portraiture subjects. What made his painting style distinct was focusing lighting on the subject’s face and adding detail around it, tapping into an innate human attraction to the face.

His approach results in one half of the subject’s face is fully illuminated, while the other half is in partial shadow. One tell-tale sign of Rembrandt lighting is the presence of a small inverted triangle of light below the subject’s eye, usually along the cheek, which is a result of the lighting setup. For perfect execution of this type of lighting, the triangle of light shadow must be no wider than the length of the eye, and no longer than the subject’s nose.

The Rembrandt lighting technique results in a moody and dramatic effect. This type of lighting technique often features a dark or black background behind the subject, putting the subject front and center.

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 (fill side).

Camera settings (flash lighting)
Tripod: optional, better so you dont have a shake in the photo.
Use transmitter on hotshoe
White balance: daylight (5000K)
ISO: 100
Exposure: Manual 1/125 shutter-speed > f/16 aperture
– check settings before shooting
Focal lenght: 105mm portrait lens

My OWN PHOTOSHOOT:

the treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting.

Chiaroscuro is a high-contrast lighting technique that utilises a low-key lighting setup to achieve contrast between the subject and a dark background. Read on to find out more, and discover how you could learn this technique (and more) for free at our upcoming TFC workshops.

A visual element in art, chiaroscuro (Italian for lightdark) 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 (Holland), but true chiaroscuro
developed during the 16th century, in Mannerism and in Baroque art.

Dark subjects were dramatically lighted by a shaft of light from a single constricted and often unseen source was a compositional device seen in the paintings of old masters such as Caravaggio and Rembrandt.

The set up:

Chiaroscuro is when you have split lighting and one half of your face is more visible than the other and there is shadowing on one side of the face. Its meant to darken the background and highlight the subject in the foreground, drawing the viewer’s focus and attention, Chiaroscuro balances high-contrast light and shade to give the appearance of depth, creating an enhanced or more dramatic effect. Chiaroscuro creates three-dimensionality on a two-dimensional plane, darkening the background and highlighting the subject in the foreground, drawing the viewer’s focus and attention.

MY OWN PHOTOSHOOT:

Here we used more than one light to shine onto the model to create this half lighting on the face, and had someone hold a reflector to the side so that the light would hit certain place of the face, this made the photo look very dark lighted especially with the back background however I do feel that the dark background makes the photo look better then if it had a bright background as the shadows on the face wouldn’t sit right,

Chiaroscuro is a very old type of art where dark subjects were dramatically lighted by a shaft of light, certain places of the model and the surrounding has lighted up places.

Butterfly lighting is a technique within portrait photography which refers to when the key light is placed above and pointing down on the subject’s face, which creates a dramatic shadow under the nose and chin that resembles a butterfly and defines the contours of the face.

Butterfly lighting is primarily used in studio settings, and it is one of the most common lighting setups. Butterfly lighting is also called ‘paramount lighting’ or ‘glamour lighting’.

History of Butterfly Lighting

Butterfly lighting dates back to some of the earliest glamour shots. This technique was first used by Josef von Sternberg, a Hollywood director who is most known for his work with Marlene Dietrich, in the 1930s. Sternberg used butterfly lighting to create a sense of mystery around Dietrich’s character, and this lighting has been used in portraiture ever since.

Butterfly Lighting Setup

Butterfly lighting is created by positioning the main light directly in line with the subject’s face and the camera, with the main light above and facing down on the subject. Most photos which use butterfly lighting have the model facing forward. A reflector can be placed below the subject to bounce light back up into the face if the shadows are too deep.

Intro to studio lighting.

During this project we are looking at different types of artificial lighting in the studio, mainly focusing on Chiaroscuro / Split lighting, Butterfly Lighting and Rembrandt Lighting.

My Photoshoot:

In this photoshoot, I attempted to take photographs using Rembrandt, butterfly and chiaroscuro lighting techniques. I think the photoshoot did go well, however it was harder than expected to achieve a successful look with the lighting.

Edited Photos

Chiaroscuro Lighting

Rembrandt Lighting:

Black and White:

Chiaroscuro lighting is a high-contrasting light technique that utilises a low-key lighting set up to achieve contrast between the subject and the dark background. Window light is the most accessible for this technique, as it focuses on only half of the models face being seen. By using window light, the photographer is able to enhance the exposure to avoid any distraction in the background of the photo. This helps keep the spotlight on the model. The window must be the only source of light when using this technique, if there is other background lighting then the focus will drift from the model into the background.

This technique is mainly used in film to create striking images or evoke a certain feeling. The contrast between light and shade can help frame a subject more effectively. Drawing viewers eyes to things they would not usually focus on in the image. Chiaroscuro is a high-contrast lighting technique. Chiaroscuro uses a low key lighting setup, where a key light is used as the sole light source to achieve dark backgrounds with starkly lit subjects.

Chiaroscuro simply means is ‘ the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. ‘

Chiaroscuro provides a sense of drama and intensity that remains striking today

Examples of Chiaroscuro Lighting:

Lighting set up:

For this effect, you light across your subject in one direction, and here we lit the background in the reverse direction. Ideally, the subject should go to black on the unlit side and the same for the background. Chiaroscuro lighting typically involves using a single, strong light source positioned at an angle to the subject. This directional light creates dramatic shadows and highlights.

Light – Chiaroscuro mainly uses one key light, and a variation using a reflector which helps deepen the contrast between the shadows.

My own photoshoots-

Overall, I am happy with these outcomes. They are definitely my most preferred out of all three styles of lightings as I personally think we have got the closest to the correct lighting in this style. We experimented with a black and white backdrop as shown and not just a head shot but personally my favourite is with a black backdrop as the shadows blend in with the background which creates a unique effect and looks more professional. I edited the images to create more depth of the shadows but still keeping it light and bright. One benefit of this technique is if the model prefers one side of their face and also creates a dramatic significant effect. One side of their face is almost gone from the shadows but definitely black drops are my favourite which links to the famous work above as they have also used black backgrounds.

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 typically used in beauty and fashion photography, because It’s a light pattern that flatters almost everybody, making it one of the most common lighting setups. Butterfly lighting was used to photograph some of the most famous stars from classic Hollywood.

some examples of butterfly lighting are:

All Paramount lighting consists of is a key light placed above and directly centered with a subject’s face. You want this light source to be above and behind the camera, angled down towards your subject. This can be achieved with either a continuous light softbox or a strobe / off-camera flash.

my attempt:

as you can see here I achieved the signature butterfly shadow under his nose in most of my attempts in this photography achieving both a softer approach to the photography style and harsher and sharper shadows.

in an attempt to better understand the lighting set up and the effects of different posing i later put my self in the place of the model and experimented with different angles, lighting positions and reflective sheets.

Here are the results after editing:

In these first two I attempted to recrate the classic holly wood editing where this style of photography originated, with very harsh shadows allowing for the contouring of the cheekbones and drawing focus to the jaw and eyes, I believe I achieve this effect in these photos and I believe I achieved the signature butterfly shadow.

In these photographs I attempted to achieve a softer look in the photography, still outlining the key features of the face and still showcasing the signature butterfly shadow but creating an over all softer effect for the photographs.

Chiaroscuro editing:

Also known as split lighting, the aim of this photo was to make one side of my face luminous while the other side is dark. This was my portrait before any editing, I think this lighting technique is effective as it gives a mysterious look. We ensured to keep the continuous lights off in order to achieve the dark look on one side of my face. This helped because it added a sense of drama to the photo making the left side very dark, and illuminate the brighter side of my face which created a successful contrast.

History of editing:

Final image:

This is my final edited image. I decided to keep the temperate and tint the same as before because my main focus was not to make the image look warmer. If I had adjusted the temperature it would decrease the dramatic effect, which I didn’t want. Instead I decreased the texture to give myself a smooth appearance, which prevents the viewer from being distracted. Additionally, I increased the saturation which helped illuminate the bright side of my face, which also increased the contrast between the light and dark side.

Rembrandt editing:

This was my original photo before any editing. We struggled to achieve the idea of a triangle appearing under the models eye, as we decided to make the background black for this photoshoot. We chose to do this because we thought it would enhance the triangle effect, however it did not turn out as successful as we thought it would.

History of editing:

Final image:

This is my final edited image for Rembrandt lighting, where I tried to highlight underneath the models right eye by increasing the shadows by an immense amount. I also increased the contrast because this would make the image appear brighter on the side where the flashlight hit, yet darker on the side where there was no light. By decreasing the vibrancy, it allowed me to achieve the black and white effect more successfully, as it instantly made the image appear more catastrophic.

Butterfly editing:

This is my photo before editing. We tried to achieve the butterfly effect by using a flashlight instead of a continuous light, as we thought we would achieve the strong, eye-catching deep shadow under the models nose. However, we used a reflector when taking these photos, which meant that our photos were significantly less effective. We soon realised that this was not as effective as it would have been if we used continuous lighting, because it also meant we were in less control of the outcome. This is because we made the room dark in order to receive the full potential of the flash, meaning we could not see what was working in the photo and what wasn’t.

History of editing:

Final image:

This is my final edit for our butterfly lighting attempt. Although it did not work as successfully as we hoped, I think the use of the editing process significantly helped improve the look of the photo and achieve the butterfly effect to an extent. I decreased the exposure a notable amount as it helps dull the image, which in a way helps increase the dark shadows. In addition to this, by increasing the contrast it helped bring out the shadows against the light, enhancing the butterfly effect. I decreased the vibration and exposure to -100 as it made my final image black and white, which I think is the more successful version for this technique of lighting.

More final edits:

what is butterfly lighting?

butterfly lighting is a lighting technique that consists of where the key light is placed above the object in the photo. this helps create the shadow under the nose that looks like a butterfly hence where is gets it name from.

butterfly light lighting originates from Hollywood 1930s as it helped create some of the earliest glamour shot. German silent film actress Marlene Dietrich helped give this technique its name after how she was presented in one of the films she stared in.

why use this form of lighting?

by using butterfly its helps the facial feature stand out more (cheekbones etc) and become one of the photos main attraction, however the main focus of the photo is the shadow under the nose (butterfly) and neck as this is what makes everything pop in the photo. overall this technique is perfect for making glamour shots as it makes the person look more symmetrical and it also makes the person look more thinner.

as you can see the lighting makes the model look more eye catching as all her facial feature are popping.

how do you create butterfly lighting?

lens-

the best lens to use is 55m as it gets you a close and focused photo with heavy detail of the person.

Light-

to create butterfly lighting artificial or natural light can be used, also hard and soft lighting is also applicable for this technique

soft vs hard lighting

I like this three quarter length photo that I took because she is looking directly at the camera, which shows she is engaged and se is in a posed position. She is surrounded by random objects around her which we attempted to convey a message of randomness. I like the contrast between her uniform position with a blank expression with the amount of objects around her.

I then edited another photo which is a full-body shot from these series of photos I took and made it black and white. I trialled this in black and white to see if this would help with the contrast of my models seriousness with the wildness of the background. I prefer these photos in colour so that you can all the colours of the objects.

This photo is a half body shot which shows my model in the same shot but at a closer up angle, this is a strong photo I think, but I think to improve she could be doing something in the photo for example, completing work or doing what she would be doing in her ‘natural environment’.

I like these half body shots of a teacher in her natural environment. She is teaching, which is her job. My model is standing doing her work by using test tubes and scientific equipment, her posing perfectly portrays what she does in her day-to-day life. I like the different colours such as the greens and reds, I think this is a good focal point for the picture. I also like the shadow behind her, I tried to maintain this whilst editing this photo.

After Before

I had to edit this photo and focus on increasing the brightness as I took it in an aperture which made the photo very dark.

I think that this photo is the strongest photo I took during this photoshoot. I think this perfectly shows a students natural environment around my model, I also think a big impact can be made from her standing in the middle of the street, making a full body shot. The way the world is still continuing around her but she is not reacting creates a powerful message for my environmental photography.

These photos had a white shadow reflecting on my model, due to this, I used Photoshop to attempt to edit and remove the white glint as much as possible however, this made the exposure very high and the photo very dark. This reduces the quality of the photo, however without this white glint I think this image of a guitarist learning a song could be very strong.

What is Chiaroscuro lighting?

A visual element originating from art, Chiaroscuro comes from the Italian word for light dark. In art however, it is defined as the bold contrast between light and dark.

First appearing in portrait paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries, Their birthplaces can be found in Italy and Flanders (Holland). In these paintings the subjects, in a dark environment, would be casted in a singular beam of light, that was emitted from an unseen source.

(These paintings were also attempted by a previously mentioned artist, Rembrandt, Who’s own lighting in art was stylised In photography also).

(Most likely the most famous example of Chiaroscuro, Johannes Vermeer’s ‘Girl with the pearl earring’ 1665).

Origins in film –

Used by Hollywood, Chiaroscuro can be seen in elements of film noir, where it is used to emphasise Moral ambiguity, enigmatic presence and sexual motivation. Seen in old detective films from the 40’s and 50’s, its use can connote the idea of interrogation lamps casting a singular beam or street lamps illuminating one part of the sidewalk. It additionally has its roots in German expressionist cinematography.

(Noir detective films using Chiaroscuro).

Origins in Photography:

In Photography, Chiaroscuro lighting is used artistically to create dark and dramatic portraits of a subjects face.

It has been played around with since the invention of the camera, further exploring the same techniques of light seen in painting.

How to create Chiaroscuro lighting:

Light –

To take Chiaroscuro, either a constant or flash of key light must be on the subject.

Additional edits:

A black back drop is the best for this as it creates more of a stark contrast on the viewers facial features.

Additionally the option of a reflector to soften the light on the facial features is also available if the photographer is not opting to go for an extremely dark image.

Lens – Using 35mm or 55mm is the best Lens size for Chiaroscuro as close-ups are the main aim for lighting technique.

Examples of own work: