Jeff Smith's Guide to Head and Shoulders Portrait Photography

The one thing you will notice about butterfly lighting is that, when you
shouldn’tuse it on a subject, you’ll know it immediately. You will adjust and re-
adjust and try to make the client look good with this lighting... but it just
won’t work. It is like the client who’s only good side is the back of their head—
you don’t miss that!
For this lighting style to be effective, you need to ensure that there are pre-
dominant catchlights in each eye at both the 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock positions

52 JEFF SMITH’S GUIDE TO HEAD AND SHOULDERS PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY

This butterfly-lit portrait was created using a Westcott Trifold reflector below the subject.

In this butterfly-lit portrait, fill light was created using a softbox on the floor.