Short Lighting

Lighting the side of the face turned away from the camera leaves the larger visible area in shadow. The face reads narrower, and the shadow does most of the modelling.

It is the more dramatic of the two. Because the near cheek falls dark, the frame carries a real shadow even in an otherwise ordinary portrait.

Turn the subject's head slightly away from the lens, then put the key on the far side, the one the camera sees less of. The visible near cheek goes to shadow and the lit area is the smaller sliver beyond the nose.

Fill controls how far it goes. A little fill on the near side keeps the features readable and the face still narrows. No fill and the portrait moves toward a low key look with most of the face dark.

Nothing about the lamp distinguishes this from broad lighting. The pattern is set by the geometry of head, camera and key together.

Use it to slim a face, to add shadow to a plain setup, and for portraits that should feel private rather than open.

Skip it on a narrow face, where it takes away width that was not there to lose, and skip it in bright commercial work that needs the subject to look welcoming.

Broad lighting is the same arrangement with the key on the other side, lighting the cheek nearest the lens and widening the face.

Ask which cheek is bright. Far cheek is short. Near cheek is broad.

The model returns a frontal portrait with no head turn, and the pattern disappears. Say the head turns slightly away and the key sits on the far side.

The other failure is a near side so dark the face stops reading. Add a line about a small amount of fill on the near cheek unless you want a low key result.