Butterfly light photography

What is Butterfly Lighting — Definition, Examples and Setups

What is butterfly lighting

First, let’s define butterfly lighting

If you want to take dynamic portraits, there are many options of lighting patterns. They all bring their own unique look and narrative value to your image — not every setup tells the same story. Let's define butterfly lighting quickly and then we'll move onto the setups and its unique properties.

Butterfly lighting DEFINITION

What is butterfly lighting?

Butterfly lighting is a lighting pattern used in portrait photography where the key light is placed above and pointing down on the subject’s face. This creates a dramatic shadow under the nose and chin that looks like a butterfly. It's also called 'Paramount lighting,' named for the Hollywood studio and how they lit their most glamorous and beautiful actresses.

What do you need to capture butterfly lighting?

• A key light
• Flashes and triggers
• Modifiers
• Reflector

Butterfly lighting is perfect for portrait photography. It is one of the most flattering lighting techniques for sculpting facial features. Here's a quick tutorial on butterfly lighting photography and how it works.

Lighting techniques  •  Butterfly lighting photography

History of Butterfly Lighting

Butterfly lighting dates back to some of the earliest glamour shots. Specifically, Marlene Dietrich, a German silent film actress, who became a Hollywood star in the 1930s, was presented on film in a way that gave this look its name.

Butterfly Lighting Photography  •  Butterfly shape just under the nose

She came to California with director Josef von Sternberg, who lit her in his films with what is known today as butterfly lighting. 

He would position the key light above her, where a butterfly-shaped shadow would appear just below her nose. With this lighting, her cheekbones and facial structure became more prominent.

It soon became a Hollywood-must for lighting.

Butterfly Lighting Setup

How to capture butterfly lighting

Butterfly lighting setups are simple. In its purest form, it's a single source (key light) directly in line with the subject's face and the camera. If the shadows are a little too deep, a reflector can be placed below the subject to bounce light back up into the face. 

Here's a tutorial on this setup, along with other light patterns for comparison.

What is butterfly lighting?  •  Quick Setup Tutorial

Like flat lighting, where the key light is directed right at the subject’s face, butterfly lighting places the light at an angle just above the subject. The light created softens the face and creates shadows under the nose and chin.

Butterfly lighting photography setup

You might use a reflector below as a fill light for the chin area. Reflectors are great ways to balance light.

During the shoot, you or a crew member can hold the reflector, or you can have the subject hold it. Mess around with it a bit. A benefit of reflectors is that you can capture beautiful catchlights in the subject’s eyes by adjusting the reflector.

What You Need for Butterfly lighting setup?

What should be in your camera bag?

Because of its simple setup, you won’t need any fancy gear or equipment to pull this off. Here's a quick list of what to include in your gear kit.

Cameras and Lenses

Obviously, you’ll need a camera with an appropriate lens for shooting portraits. No lens wider than 50mm, and you can use any mirrorless or DSLR camera. iPhone even has a fairly suitable portrait mode on its latest models.

You can also use a telephoto lens for portraits, as long as the space allows you to move back and focus.

Flash and Trigger

Ensure your camera is compatible with the flashes and triggers you buy.

You can get triggers to wirelessly set your flash off. This allows you to position your flash wherever you’d like to get the desired lighting effect.

Modifier

If you’re using a flash, you can add a modifier as well. Modifiers will help diffuse the light. Common ones are softboxes or even umbrellas.

Reflector

Reflectors will help you balance your light. Once your key light and modifier are all set, you may still experience shadows under your mode’s chin. Use the reflector under and angled towards their face, in order to soften that shadow.

Butterfly lighting is one of the most flattering lighting patterns. And probably the easiest one to pull off. If you want to explore more patterns, keep reading!

Learning to light is the basis for great photography and cinematography. Knowing how and when to use certain lighting patterns with intention can help you level up from a beginner to an enthusiast and beyond. Let’s go deeper into another pattern, Rembrandt lighting, and how it adds more dramatic shadows and depth to your portraits.

Up Next: Rembrandt lighting →

What is Butterfly Lighting and How to Do it Well

If you’re a beginner portrait photographer, this guide to the butterfly lighting pattern is what you need to create really striking images.

In studio-portrait photography, there are different lighting setups that photographers use to create consistent results.

In this article, I’ll tell you how to set up butterfly lighting, how to recognize it and the different effects you can create with it by analysing some examples.

This lighting technique is one of the first ones studied by beginner photographers because it’s flattering for all sorts of subjects, although it’s mainly used for beauty shots. It’s also easy to learn and budget-friendly!

So, if you’re interested in improving your portraits and learn about lighting patterns, keep on reading.

Table of Contents

What is Butterfly Lighting?

Butterfly lighting is a type of portrait lighting technique used primarily in a studio setting. Its name comes from the butterfly-shaped shadow that forms under the nose because the light comes from above the camera. You may also hear it called ‘paramount lighting’ or ‘glamour lighting’.

Butterfly lighting is used for portraits. 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, and that’s why it’s also called Paramount lighting.

With it, you can highlight cheekbones and create shadows under them as well as under the neck – which makes the model look thinner. 

That’s why it’s often used for beauty, boudoir and glamour photographs – even if it’s also perfect for photographing men, children or elderly models.

A butterfly lighting pattern is a setup that consists of a main light coming from above and in front of the subject. Thanks to this position, it highlights the nose and cheekbones – making the subject look slimmer and the face longer.

The main characteristic is the shadow created under the subject’s nose that’s shaped like a butterfly. It also causes a shadow underneath the subject’s chin. Both shadows can be less evident if a reflector bounces back the light from the main source.

You can also identify when butterfly lighting is used in a portrait since you’ll be able to see the main light’s reflection on the top part of the iris in the subject’s eyes.

What Equipment do you need for Butterfly Lighting?

Camera gear of portrait photographer Ambe Williams.

To use butterfly lighting in portrait photography, you need a camera, a main light, and – if you want – a reflector. You don’t need expensive gear or a lot of knowledge in balancing multiple lights.

However, if you want to get serious about portrait lighting – here’s a more in-depth list of what you need.

• Camera

While you can make portraits with any camera, one with interchangeable lenses would be the best choice. You can choose between DSLR and mirrorless according to your preference; they are both suitable for studio portraits.

What’s more important is the sensor size. If your budget allows it, a full-frame camera will give you sharper images. However, nothing is stopping you from making some spectacular butterfly photography using a crop sensor camera.

Here are some of the best cameras for portrait photography:

Canon 5D Mark IV – full-frame DSLR

Nikon Z7 – full-frame mirrorless

Nikon D3500 – entry-level DSLR

Canon EOS Rebel SL3 – entry-level DSLR

• Lens

There are two important things to consider when choosing a lens for portrait photography: the distortion and the bokeh.

To avoid face distortion, you should work with focal lengths that resemble the human eye or longer – anything above a 50 mm lens will do.

However, to achieve a good bokeh effect, you’ll be better with longer focal lengths. A short telephoto lens is the best choice.

Here are the favourite lenses from professional portrait photographer Ambe Williams, whose gear is displayed in the photo above:

Sigma 85mm f/1.4

Sigma 50mm f/1.4

Canon 35mm f/2

Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8

Tamron 70-20mm f/2.8

• Light

Butterfly lighting requires a key light that can be a flash unit or continuous. If continuos, it can be artificial or natural. In other words, you can use strobes, speedlights, LEDs or even the sun.

The most important is where the light is placed – but we’ll get to that later. Keep in mind that, even if it can be done with any source of light, it’s typically done with strobes.

Some of the strobes preferred by professional portrait photographers are:

Profoto B1 500 Air TTL

Digi Bee Flash Unit

Neweer Vision 4

Godox AD200

LimoStudio AGG1756V2

If you can’t afford strobes just yet, don’t worry. You can start to practice using speedlights, or you can rent an equipped studio for a day and use it to try out different lights and build a portfolio.

As an option, you can enrich the butterfly lighting setup by adding a hair light or add some extra lights for the background.

What is the best camera flash to buy? There are plenty of models to choose from, but the basic advice is to select a model without TTL if you intend to use it off-camera most of the time – this can save you some money.

• Accessories

– Tripod. This is optional because when the light source is bright enough – as artificial studio lighting will be – you can shoot handheld. If you’re using natural light, then make sure you can use a fast enough shutter speed before ditching the tripod.

– Stand. You will need a light stand to hold the flash unit and place it in the right position. Some photographers make use of a boom arm to get a better angle.

– Light modifiers. A butterfly lighting effect refers to the setup and not to the quality of light – it can be soft or hard light depending on the effect you want.

If you want to create a soft light, you’ll need to use modifiers. A beauty dish is perfect for glamour photography as it distributes the light evenly and smooths the skin. You can also use a softbox or an umbrella.

Instead, if you want to have hard light, you can leave the light source as it is. Alternatively, you can use grid spots to direct it and create different effects – check out MagMod gels for some creative options and examples of what hard light is used for.

Remember that you can rent equipment if you are just starting. This way, you can try different modifiers and their effects to see which ones you like before investing in your own gear.

– Trigger. You need to connect your camera with the flash unit; you can do this via cable or a wireless trigger. If you are working with another fill light, make sure it’s compatible to work on slave mode – if not, you’ll have to connect another receiver to it.

– Reflector. Most photographers use a reflector as part of the butterfly lighting setup. Unless you want to create a very dramatic image, you can place a reflector under the model’s face.

How to Set up a Butterfly Lighting Pattern

First, position the model in front of the lighting stand. The light should be at a higher angle, pointing down towards the subject’s face.

Then, place the camera directly under the light using a tripod. If you plan on shooting handheld, finish the lighting setup and then come back to position yourself under the light.

Add a light modifier according to the type of light that you want on your portrait. You can place a beauty ring or a softbox on the strobe to achieve soft light. Otherwise, you can use a grid to create a more controlled hard light.

Measure the intensity of the light. Ideally, use an external meter – this will make the reading more precise. Alternatively, you can make a few trial shots and adjust the camera settings and flash intensity accordingly.

Once you have the key light set up, it’s time to fill the shadows. You can use a reflector to bounce the light back up and soften the shadow under the chin and the one from under the nose.

To do so, position the reflector under the subject’s face. Start at waist level and see how it looks. If the shadows are still strong, move it closer to the face and so on.

Experiment with different positions to achieve different effects. You can also change the colour of the reflector. A white one will give you a neutral tone, while a golden one gives a warming overcast.

Once you’re happy with your butterfly lighting, direct the model to have a striking fashion pose or whatever the desired pose or expression you’re looking for.

Just keep in mind that the subject’s face needs to be towards the light in order to have the butterfly shadow under the nose.

That’s the basic butterfly lighting setup for a studio portrait. You can add more lights if you want to create a more complex pattern.

For example, you can add a hair light to create a highlight that separates the subject from the background. You can also add lights to illuminate the background – this can be even light for a solid background or graded to create more depth.

1. Position the subject in between the background and the light.

2. Lift the light source above the subject’s eye level.

3. Put a reflector underneath the subject’s chin.

4. Stand under the light and start shooting – Keep the subject looking straight ahead.

5 Examples of Photos Using Butterfly Lighting

Now that you know what is butterfly light and how to use it as a lighting pattern – here are some examples for you to see what you can create with it.

Audrey Hepburn by Bud Fraker. PDM

As I mentioned before, this type of lighting was very popular in the old classic Hollywood portraits. So, I decided to start with one of those images: a public domain picture of Audrey Hepburn from 1946 taken by Bud Fraker.

Notice how – even if it’s a little to the side – you can see the butterfly shadow under the nose. Plus, a strong shadow under the subject’s chin. The cheekbones are highlighted, creating a graded shadow towards the rest of the cheek.

Credit: Monica Silva

In this portrait of former athlete Fiona May photographed by Monica Silva, you can see the butterfly lighting pattern more clearly because of the straightforward pose.

The shadows are softer because there’s a fill light or a reflector underneath. You can see the reflections of both on the subject’s eyes.

Credit: Ziphaus

In this example, you can see how the shadow under the subject’s nose is not a perfect butterfly because the head is a little tilted. However, the butterfly effect is perfectly achieved.

You can also see the light source reflected on the iris.

Credit: Ludovic Migneaut

Butterfly lighting pattern is not only for female models. In this self-portrait by Ludovic Migneaut, he used a butterfly lighting setup complemented by a backlight coming from the right that separates him from the background and creates a pleasing halo on the hair and the shoulder.

Credit: Cristian Newman

As you can see in this photograph by Cristian Newman, using butterfly lighting for elderly portraits is also a good choice that can result in a very powerful image.

Final Words

If you’re a beginner photographer and you want to start trying some portrait lighting patterns, the butterfly lighting effect is the perfect way to start.

I hope this article showed you how much you could achieve by using just one light. Let us know in the comments section how it goes; we’d love to hear from you!

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