Butterfly/Loop Lighting

[Benji]

I seldom use butterfly lighting as it tends to add weight to the face of my subject, so I combined it with short loop and I think it works.

Benji

[SilverBullet07]

Hey Benji


I'm sort of new to lighting and have been trying hard to learn.

I'm having a hard time seeing any shadow. The only shadow I see seems to be on the short side which seems to be where you key light is from. Is a fill light creating the shadow?

[Benji]

Originally Posted by SilverBullet07

Hey Benji


I'm sort of new to lighting and have been trying hard to learn.

I'm having a hard time seeing any shadow. The only shadow I see seems to be on the short side which seems to be where you key light is from. Is a fill light creating the shadow?

The easiest way to determine where the main light was positioned is by asking yourself where are the catchlights? In this image the catchlights are at 1 o'clock position in her eyes indicating the main light was at camera right. The shadows then will be at camera left, and they are, although they are very faint. The lighting ratio was about 1.2 to 1 in this image.

Short lighting means the shadow side of the face is closest to the camera. Broad lighting is where the brightest side of the face is closest to the camera. Butterfly lighting usually comes directly from over the camera aimed down and it leaves a butterfly shaped shadow under the nose of the female.

Benji

[ttosifa]

Hey Benji --

I love the photo. I think the shadows around the nose and the chin come out great. I especially love the background -- what is it?

There is one little thing that bugs me, and I don't know why. It's the shadow on her right forehead. Maybe it's the shape of her head, or maybe something in the lighting. For some reason, my eyes are initially drawn to hers and get drawn back until I get to that forehead shadow. Then they get stuck there.

Actually, in writing this, I might have figured out why -- it is a (relatively) high contrast area with a smallish shadow bounded by a larger highlight area provided by your main light, the overhead light (the overhead light lights the eyebrow area since it sticks out a bit more), and her light hair. I think it's some kind of optical illusion that makes it appear darker than it really is -- in reality it is not as dark as the nose shadow or the shadows on the right side of her face. Looking at it, it just seems there out to be a reflector up high at camera right to reduce the density of that particular shadow. Or maybe a slight repositioning of the overhead light to allow that shadow to connect to another so the eye can "flow out." Or maybe it's just me.

FWIW

[Benji]

Originally Posted by ttosifa

Hey Benji --

I love the photo. I think the shadows around the nose and the chin come out great. I especially love the background -- what is it?

There is one little thing that bugs me, and I don't know why. It's the shadow on her right forehead. Maybe it's the shape of her head, or maybe something in the lighting. For some reason, my eyes are initially drawn to hers and get drawn back until I get to that forehead shadow. Then they get stuck there.

Actually, in writing this, I might have figured out why -- it is a (relatively) high contrast area with a smallish shadow bounded by a larger highlight area provided by your main light, the overhead light (the overhead light lights the eyebrow area since it sticks out a bit more), and her light hair. I think it's some kind of optical illusion that makes it appear darker than it really is -- in reality it is not as dark as the nose shadow or the shadows on the right side of her face. Looking at it, it just seems there out to be a reflector up high at camera right to reduce the density of that particular shadow. Or maybe a slight repositioning of the overhead light to allow that shadow to connect to another so the eye can "flow out." Or maybe it's just me.

FWIW

The background is one I painted myself with some latex house paint on a piece of canvas that should have been an awning!

I didn't notice that shadow until you mentioned it, so I went and looked at a couple of the other images of her with slightly different lighting, head tilts and angles and it is there in most of them! I am wondering now if it is the shape of the skull bone underneath.

Benji

[sk66]

Originally Posted by Benji

I seldom use butterfly lighting as it tends to add weight to the face of my subject, so I combined it with short loop and I think it works.

Benji

Butterfly modified with loop....wouldn't that just be loop lighting?

One negative of loop lighting is it tends to broaden the face as opposed to glamour (butterfly) lighting.


So, I'm confused...

[Benji]

Originally Posted by sk66

Butterfly modified with loop....wouldn't that just be loop lighting?

One negative of loop lighting is it tends to broaden the face as opposed to glamour (butterfly) lighting.


So, I'm confused...

Loop lighting can be either broad or short. Broad lighting (whether broad loop or broad Rembrandt) is where the main light casts a shadow on the side of the face furthest from the camera. In short lighting (again whether short loop or short Rembrandt) is when the shadow cast by the main light in on the side of the face closest to the camera. Short lighting tends to slenderize the face. In any loop or Rembrandt lighting the nose of the subject is not pointed directly at the camera, rather it is pointed somewhere around 1/3rd to 1/2 of the way in between the camera and the main light. Loop lighting is sometimes called OFLP (which means One Fantastic Lighting Pattern) so called because it is easy to set up, it works beautifully and it can be done quickly in the camera room.

Butterfly lighting is when the main light is directly above the camera (but up close to the subject) aimed down onto the face of the subject, leaving a butterfly shaped shadow under the nose of the subject. The subject's nose in butterfly lighting is usually pointed directly at the camera. I only use butterfly lighting when the subject has a thin face, with high cheekbones, and eyes that are not too deep set. These limitations restrict the use of butterfly lighting to a select few individuals.

Benji

[sk66]

My understanding:

Paramount (Butterfly, Glamour) and Loop Lighting are multiple light setups. Both require a Key Light and Fill at a minimum (could be bounce or whatever), otherwise the shadows are too harsh or it's a form of broad/short lighting.

Paramount the key is in front and higher than the eyes, fill from below.
Loop is similar except the Key is a bit lower and a litle to the short side. The fill moves to the broad side.

So, if you take paramount and move the fill you have "butterfly modded with loop" which is basically loop.

[Benji]

Originally Posted by sk66

My understanding:

Paramount (Butterfly, Glamour) and Loop Lighting are multiple light setups. Both require a Key Light and Fill at a minimum (could be bounce or whatever), otherwise the shadows are too harsh or it's a form of broad/short lighting.

Paramount the key is in front and higher than the eyes, fill from below.
Loop is similar except the Key is a bit lower and a litle to the short side. The fill moves to the broad side.

So, if you take paramount and move the fill you have "butterfly modded with loop" which is basically loop.

ALL of my lighting is multiple lighting, even outdoors! Indoors, I virtually never move my fill, it stays stationary, above and behind the camera usually slightly off center but on the same side that the main light is on.

As you indicate above, moving the main light is how one gets different lighting patterns. All the fill does is "fill" the shadows. The fill can be turned up in which the shadows are light, or turned down and the shadows are dark. When one wants to change the direction of the main light one must move the main light, not the fill light.

I typically use five lights in just about all my images.

Ben