Split Lighting

Split Lighting

Split lighting occurs when the key light illuminates only half the face. It is an ideal slimming light.

It can be used to narrow a wide face or nose.

It can also be used with a weak fill to hide facial irregularities.

For a highly dramatic effect, split lighting can be used with no fill.

Key Light.

In split lighting, the key light is moved farther to the side of the subject and lower than in other setups. In some cases, the key light is actually slightly behind the subject, depending on how far the subject is turned from the camera.

Other Lights. The fill light, hair light, and background light are used normally for split lighting.