Loop Lighting

A small curved shadow beside the nostril gives a face shape without committing to a hard dark side. It is the most usable portrait pattern there is, which is why most interviews end up in it whether anyone named it or not.

It reads as ordinary in a useful way. The face looks lit by a window or a lamp rather than by a decision, so nothing about the light competes with the person.

The key sits thirty to forty five degrees off the lens and a little above eye level. That angle throws a short shadow from the nose down and out toward the corner of the mouth, curving as it goes.

The rule that defines the pattern is where the shadow stops. It has to stay clear of the cheek shadow. The moment the two join, the lit area closes into a triangle and the setup has become Rembrandt.

Both eyes keep a catchlight at this angle, which is part of why it is the safe choice. Push the key further round and the far eye starts to lose its highlight.

Use it as the default for talking heads, interviews and any portrait that should look natural. It flatters most faces and it is forgiving when the subject turns.

Move off it when the scene needs a real mood. Loop lighting is designed to be unremarkable, so it works against noir, horror and anything built on deep shadow.

Rembrandt lighting comes from the same lamp moved further round and higher, until the nose shadow reaches the cheek shadow and closes a triangle under the far eye. Loop keeps them apart.

The single test is the gap. A visible strip of light between the nose shadow and the cheek shadow means loop. No gap means Rembrandt.

Models deliver a Rembrandt triangle when asked for loop, because the two positions are close. Say the nose shadow does not reach the cheek and name the gap.

The other failure is a flat face with no nose shadow, which means the key went to the lens axis. Ask for the key slightly to one side and name the small shadow beside the nostril.