This one is a nifty little tool that you can have in your lighting arsenal and it's called Butterfly Light, also known as Beauty Light. It's an especially good light to use on women (hence butterfly) if you want to make them look pruuuuty (hence beauty).
In its simplest form, a butterfly light is a light that is placed above and in front of the model. Lets look at the setup diagram:
(click on images for larger versions)
For the picture above, title Ravenclaw, I wanted the light to be soft yet directional and dramatic. One of the good things about butterfly lighting is the catchlight it throws in the model's eyes. It's amazingly good at enhancing already gorgeous eyes and my model, Denise Manila(MM#834507) certainly has the goodies.
Light A: For the main light, I used a Sunpak 383 strobe mounted on a stand. I placed it high in front of the model and a bit to the left. The light was pointed down toward the model's face until a shadow is visible right under the model's nose.
Modifier A: Using two stands, I placed a 3x4" panels with white rip-stop nylon fabric stretched over in between the model and the light. This soften the raw light coming from the strobe considerably. I made sure to light illuminated the fabric evenly for maximum softness. I also made sure the strobe was pointed directly toward the center of the frame.
Yup it's that simple! All you need to do is get the model to give you THE look. (hint: a beer or ten helps*)
A few things to keep in mind...
First make sure the nose shadow (when the model is directly facing the camera) is not too long and not too short. When it's too long (when it drops down to the model's lips) you may get the Adolf Hitler look, and that's definitely not flattering. When it's too short, you may get a very flat, deer-in-headlight, bloated, kind of look. The length of the shadow is determined by how far in front of the model the light is. It is also important to take note of how high the light is especially on models with deep set eyes. The shadows created by prominent brows may not be too pleasing.
Second, I originally wanted about half of the light to strike pass the panel and into a reflector below it to lighten the shadow but the resulting image lacked drama. That light setup is sometimes called "clam shell" light. It gives really nice, watery catchlights in the model's eyes.
Third, you can do butterfly lighting with many different lighting modifier. The picture below of Aragorn (who, to the best of my knowledge, is not a girl) was probably lit by a grid spot judging by how hard and tight the nose shadow is. Take note of the very small catchlight in his eyes.
(Copyrighted New Line Cinema)
You can also use umbrellas which may be hard to position if you don't have a boom stand or softboxes which are definitely hard to procure (and position) if you don't have the dough. Me, I like my DIY panels because I get so much control from them at a fraction of a price.
* It gets messy after the eleventh one
Those two pictures use loop lighting, b/c the style is determined by the face to light placment, not light to camera placment. Had she looked straight (nose forward), it would have been butterfly lighting (like the picture of Strider).
ReplyDeleteOh, it's called butterfly b/c the shadow under the nose looks like a "butterfly" (more like a moth to me) flying towards you. Note the Aragorn picture again.
ReplyDelete