How to Create Beautiful Butterfly Lighting for Portraits

Butterfly lighting is a popular technique in portrait photography that creates a soft, flattering light on your subject's face. This lighting setup is named after the butterfly-shaped shadow it creates under the nose. In this blog post, we'll go over the equipment you'll need and the steps to set up butterfly lighting for your portrait photography.

Equipment Needed:

  • One light (ideally softbox or umbrella style)

  • Light stand

  • Reflector (optional)

Steps to Set Up Butterfly Lighting:

  1. Position your main light at a 45-degree angle to your subject's face, slightly higher than eye level. This will create a soft, diffused light that wraps around their face.

  2. Adjust the height and angle of the light until you achieve the desired shadow effect.

  3. If needed, use a reflector to bounce some light back onto your subject's face and reduce shadows.