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Butterfly lighting

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Butterfly lighting is a classic technique for lighting a model or sitter using just one light and a reflector. This style is also called Paramount, after the Hollywood studio that made this style popular. It is associated with the glamourous look of black-and-white movies, and places a distinctive 'butterfly' shaped shadow under the nose of the sitter.

To butterfly light, put the key light with a softbox or shoot-through umbrella directly above the model and high, then place the reflector at about chest height, pointing up towards the face. This is easier with a modeling light. To practice, you can do this using regular continuous light.

Note that the position of the light needs to be such that the shadow under the nose doesn't touch the lips. It's also common to use a V-shaped or U-shaped reflector to get a more consistent distribution of reflected light under the eyes. A high-contrast reflector, silver, for example, will product crisp and beautiful images.

Top view:

Butterflylighting.png

Side view:

Butterflylighting_side.png

Illustrative images by Nikonian Paco Romero (Texxter):

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