Rembrandt lighting is a basic portrait lighting technique that uses a single key light at a 45 degree angle to illuminate one side of the face, leaving the other side in shadow but with a triangular catchlight. It creates a classic chiaroscuro effect. While the ideal triangle shadow is no wider than the eye and shorter than the nose, in practice it can be difficult to achieve perfectly so Rembrandt lighting is often used loosely to mean roughly half the face lit. The key light is sometimes supplemented by a reflector or lower powered fill light to lighten the shadows on the dark side of the face.

1. City College Norwich AS Photography
Portrait Lighting
Rembrandt Lighting:
Rembrandt Lighting is one of the most basic lighting setups used in studio portrait photography. There
are two things that make up Rembrandt Lighting… A light on one half the face, and a triangle of light on
the shadowed side of the face (called a chiaroscuro, but only lighting nerds need to remember that…
most of us just call it ‘the triangle shadow’). If it’s ‘real’ Rembrandt lighting, the triangle shadow should
be no wider than the eye, and no longer than the nose. The thing that distinguishes Rembrandt Lighting
from simple short lighting is the triangle of light.
In the real world, when it comes to portrait photography, Rembrandt Lighting is often confused with
Short Lighting and is used as loose shorthand for ‘using a single light source to light roughly half the face,
while leaving the other half of the face in some level of shadow.’ This is because it can often be quite
'fiddly' to get the triangle of light just right on a subject.
Rembrandt lighting at its most basic level is constructed with a single light source placed approximately
45 degrees offset from the subject and a bit higher than eye level, lighting the side of the face that is
farthest from the camera.
One-light Rembrandt Lighting setup:
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2. City College Norwich AS Photography
Often times the single light source is augmented with a reflector or another light placed approximately 45
degrees offset to the shadowed side of the face and at ½ the power of the main light source (called the
key light). This is used to lighten the shadows on the dark side of the face.
One-light with reflector Rembrandt Lighting setup:
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