Rembrandt Lighting Tutorial

In this guide, you will learn about Rembrandt Lighting and how to do it properly.

What is Rembrandt Lighting?

Rembrandt Lighting is a standard lighting technique used in photography, video, animation etc. and the distinctive feature of this technique is the triangle/diamond shape formed under the subject's eye. It adds a dramatic, yet natural effect on your composition.

How to do it in SFM?

We use 2 seperate lights for this technique. One is the Key Light, and the other is the Fill Light.


First, we place our Key Light. It must be brighter than the Fill Light.

We angle it at about 50-60 degrees on one side. And it must be above the subject, NOT at eye level. Otherwise you won't be able to achieve the triangle/diamond shape.



The second step is to place our Fill Light. It is darker than the Key Light, and is used to soften out the shadows a bit.

We place it on the opposite side of the subject at eye level. You can also make it so that it faces away the subject a little, so it doesn't completely cancel out the shadows.

Results

So here's the result:



As you can see, there's the famous triangle/diamond shape under Soldier's left eye. Pretty cool, right?

Final Words

So I'm getting more and more experienced in writing guides now. I'll keep improving myself in this area as time goes on.

I hope this guide is helpful for everyone :D

Have a nice day!!!

[kaplan]

@Abyss Diver I'm glad I could help!!! FYI: I also am a photogtapher irl, you can add me on discord in case you need any help. Add me on steam to get my handle :D

[UCEY]

Seeing your guides brings back memories of photo class. Thanks for these, I've been struggling with getting lights right

[SoyCow Boy (RU)]

@kaplan Thank you! Have a great day! The translation will take a couple of days

[kaplan]

@SoyCow Boy Of course you can!!! It'd be great if you also add me as a contributor too :D

[SoyCow Boy (RU)]

@kaplan, Can I translate your works about into Russian? Of course I will credit you as the original author. In my opinion, more people should be able to read your works. Thanks for reading!

[kaplan]

@SoyCow Boy Thank you for your comment :D

[SoyCow Boy (RU)]

Thank you for your content! I wish you the best skills in SFM