Lighting The Face — tutorial for models, actors, selfies & fine art portraits
Thousands and thousands of paintings, and 10 million photos later, we know PRECISELY the kind of lighting that best appeals to the human eye. Become conscious and aware of the lighting on the face, for you as a model, a painter, or a photographer to deliver maximum beauty and allure to professionally captivating images.
I’m a professional headshot and portrait photographer in Dallas, TX with over 20 years experience. I photograph people from children, to models, to families, to corporate executives. Being aware of the lighting on the face is core to my profession.
Note: I’ve taken a sample of images straight off of Pinterest, purely for tutorial purposes and I don’t own copyright on any of them.
We humans instinctively respond to very specific kinds of lighting, but unless you’re an artist, you probably do it unconsciously. This article is here to serve you as a photographer or as a subject to a photographer in creating the kinds of photos that deliver maximum happiness.
When you are aware and consciously crafting the light, you can dial in the results you want with consistency, resulting in images that deliver success after success.
So let’s go over the most common ways to light the face, with my personal opinions added from decades of professional experience to IMPROVE your images, either as a model, a portrait subject, a commercial art director, painter, or artist / photographer.
Side Lighting
We’re starting as simple and straightforward as possible. I don’t like this lighting. One side of the face is left in significant shadow. Too much shadow if you ask me! This is the result of a single light, either photographic strobe light or window light or the sun when it is low in the sky. I feel we can do a lot better than this.
Sometimes called “split lighting”, this style leaves half the face in serious shadow. WHY are we even using this at all? If someone is taking or showing a photo of the face, I want to be able to SEE the face, you think? What I don’t want to see is a black area where a face should be! Hate it! It is for drama and for horror, but does not bring out beauty in the face.
Side Lighting + Ambient/Reflected
I believe this is an improvement to side lighting. Can you tell that I don’t like murky shadows? I don’t like my subjects looking like they might be serial killers! This additional light in the room, is either intentionally reflected or naturally spills to various degrees onto the face, lessening the deep shadow and showing us some what the darker side of the face looks like. Say it with me: “shadow management”.
It is all about the balance between the lighter side and the darker side. Too much shadow and I don’t like it. Go too far to the other extreme, and now you have even lighting. Look for the amount of shadow on one side of the nose to judge if this is a pleasing or a distracting nose shadow. Myself, I see way too many images with too much nose shadow and not enough fill light. But do the fill light right and manage the level of shadow, and you can make some amazing headshots and portraits this way!
Classic Rembrandt Lighting
Here we have the single most significant and conscious use of lighting throughout all art history! You can see that it is somewhat side lighting, but moved a bit towards the front of the face and up higher to produce the signature CHEEK TRIANGLE of light, but leaving the far side of the face in deep shadow.
The light is a little above the face, and to the side enough to produce those shadows on one side of the nose, and also to the edge of the face, while being enough to the front to light up both cheekbone areas.
Rembrandt lighting is used again and again in paintings and photos because it simply works. Since it is used in so many fine art paintings of yesteryear, it lends a more classic or painterly feel to the portrait.
Myself, I’m not aiming for an image that looks like it could be 200 years old. I want something contemporary. I want more light on the face and less mysterious shadow. Myself, I’m usually photographing for pleasing beauty, not a murder mystery!
Nevertheless, this style with its both well-lit specific areas and specific shadow areas does call attention to the face, and make the viewer pause and wonder about the person — their past, their character, their motives.
The dual nature of both shown and hidden areas on the face psychologically implies that there are up front things about the person, but also hidden things in their psyche.
“Are they trustworthy?” “Are they helpful or hurtful?” “Do I want to invite them in or push them away?” Our brains try to figure this out when presented with mixed-message lighting! This makes the viewer pause, stare, and wonder (which is what Rembrandt likely wanted, I’m guessing).
That’s because the combination light and the deep shadow together seem to be sending contradictory messages about the person. So if you want your photo to send mixed messages (as, say, an actor who plays a character that starts off as a friend, only to end up as a betrayer) might want to convey, then use classic, Rembrandt lighting.
In conclusion, Rembrandt’s signature lighting in most of his oil paintings will not emphasize beauty, but is a great way to light a character for a novel, or a complex personality, or if your image needs a very old world/timeless/classic feel to it. But if allure/attraction, more than a character study is your goal, I feel there are even better ways to light beauty photos, modeling headshots and portraits.
Rembrandt FAILS
Here are examples of what I feel are fails in lighting. The lighting is SORTOF Rembrandt style, but not high enough or too much to the side. Not enough to the side to be side lighting either. Notice that we somewhat hint at the cheek triangle light, but not really. It is neither one nor the other.
The result is an ugly nose shadow on what could otherwise have been a nice portrait or headshot. That large dark area right in the middle of their face, from the heavy nose shadow, is really distracting and detracting from the face.
The casual viewer might still respond to the photo positively, but that is because the subject themselves is attractive DESPITE the poor lighting. If professional lighting was easy, heck, everyone could achieve it! The same subject in better lighting would have resulted in a far better photo.
Close does not cut it: a small lighting movement can make a big difference! It takes a real professional with experience to get facial lighting right and balanced perfectly. The best results are not achieved by accident, but by conscious artistic and careful attention to the lighting on the face.
Rembrandt Lighting + Boosted Shadows
This means the main light on the face (the key light) produces the signature Rembrandt angle and look, but ADDITIONAL light keeps the face from being in deep shadow — allowing us to see detail in the otherwise shadow side of the face. This is a real improvement over classic Rembrandt lighting for displaying beauty because the boosted shadows are less murky and mysterious.
Rembrandt did not have the advantage of studio strobe lighting with multiple light sources or he PROBABLY would have switched to this style instead. You think? Maybe. I certainly would!
As I am conscious of my intuitive response to this lighting, I feel I can trust the person a lot more, that they are not hiding something important from me, when the shadows are decreased.
These boosted shadows are achieved by more than 1 light — what photographers call “light modifiers”: meaning adding either studio strobe, ambient room light, or reflected light to the side otherwise in shadow.
It is all in the exact amount of this fill light to boost your shadows to give it the effect and feel that you desire. It is all about the light-management — specifically the “shadow management.” And the exact degree to which the shadows are illuminated is where the subjective art aspect comes in.
If only Rembrandt had more darn windows in his studio, this would be more what he would have painted! (joking, not joking)
We have both cheeks well lit, and the far edge of the face falling off into shadow, but not that (ugly) stark/harsh/deep shadow that I feel interferes with seeing their face. Not as static and flat as “even lighting” (see below), but not as dark as the proper Rembrandt lighting, we have interest, we have some depth and texture, we have a more modern image. In my book, we have… SUCCESS!
How to take a portrait that tells you it is a “fine art” type portrait, without telling you? I say the answer is Rembrandt type lighting but with brighter shadow areas. The exact pose, lighting angle and balance of light-and-shadow can make this look classy, gorgeous and outstanding!
Even Lighting
This is what you will see in “beauty” photography or ads for makeup — the entire face well lit. Every model needs at least one photo done this way! Everything in plain view with nothing mysterious to conceal. This is achieved best by studio photography strobes or window light from large windows. It works great to show the beauty of the face itself.
This is so popular for beauty photos or for a makeup company showing their makeup on a model precisely because it hides fine lines and wrinkles. Want to emphasize the texture and imperfections in the face, the move the light more to the side. Want to reduce the appearance of texture and fine lines, then have the light fully or nearly straight on.
In even lighting, sometimes called “broad” lighting, there are either no shadows on either side of the nose, or the same amount of slight shadowing. Smooth lighting with no harsh shadows can be achieved with large light sources in the portrait studio or outside on an overcast day.
Now, in photos where the light source is higher above the face, the results lean towards “butterfly lighting” with their under-nose and under-chin shadows, arguably, but not quite. This is also a flattering and popular choice, for reasons you can see here:
ALMOST Even Lighting
But if you move the light a LITTLE to one side (not so much as to produce a significant and annoying nose shadow), then the face looks less “flat”, and some use the term “sculpted” for “less flat” — meaning it has more depth and texture to it. One side is a bit brighter than the other, but not dramatically so.
This way, the nose has more “contour” but not a harsh shadow. A little to the side is much more interesting to me, while not letting any part of the face be dark — this is one of my favorite ways to light my headshot subjects!
The small emphasis more on one side of the face makes it more interesting to our brain, an sculpts the nose without creating an ugly deep nose shadow. This I LOVE!
Butterfly Lighting
Technically, “Butterfly” lighting requires two separate light sources that form a specific butterfly shape underneath the nose. This means 2 lights at a specific angle to the face and specific height above the face. This was quite popular for harsh lighting styles in Hollywood in the 1950’s.
But these days with studio photoshoots not being limited to just two lights, plus many improvements in soft lighting for beauty photography, the term has really blurred to people calling most lighting styles where the main light is enough overhead to form any kind of under-nose shadow to count as “butterfly” lighting, even if it is not that in the pure and original sense of the term.
Pop Quiz Time
Now that we have learned what is what, it is time to mix it up a bit. It is time to look at light like a professional photographer does! In these examples, how can we describe the lighting?
What do we say about this photo? Even lighting on the face. The light is more from above, delivering a butterfly-like shadow under the nose, but without seeing the signature two specular highlight reflections of butterfly lighting in the pupils. That means it is a very LARGE light source above her, either angled mostly down own completely straight down.
From the eye reflections we see there is a bounce underneath the model to lessen the shadows from the overhead light — making it more even. And we have light coming in from the far side of the model, like a rim light on the far edge of her face.
How about this portrait? The main light here certainly is in the Rembrandt style. But we have brighter ambient light so we can see the face on both sides. Then we have an added “rim” light far off to the side, not too bright, and almost but not quite behind her, to give what photographers call a “kick”.
To separate the subject from the background, a rim or kick light is used. Note that you will see this often in movies, and used a LOT in soap opera lighting to add more emotion? drama? and depth to the face.
Here we have “even” lighting, but most of the lighting is coming from just slightly below her face. This removes the shadows under the nose and creates the lightening of the lower part of the eye iris. So compare light above the subject’s face where there is no upwards bounce/fill light vs very soft light slightly below the model’s face.
Next we have lighting on both sides of the face, but not the front:
Notice one of the 2 lights, the brighter one, is more forward and higher than the other.
By now you can identity each lighting scenario on the same face, the model Tia Mallia.
Last one above: model Sarah Salomonsen as photographed by Nikolai Sander Roxman. Here we see the face 3/4 to the side with the main (key)light a bit more to the side (hence the shadow on the side of the nose towards the viewer). But we see the fill light (whether from bounce, flash or natural does not matter) on the shadow side of the face so that it is not TOO dark. And all this the subject is a bit brighter than the background, making her stand out, but not to an unnatural degree. Bravo!
Conclusion:
You need photography that is very lighting conscious, with professional posing and shadow management. As a Dallas photographer for headshots, models / fashion, and portraits, book with our studio at www.PortraitPhotographerDallas.com
