# Butterfly Lighting — lighting technique | AIM Previz

https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/butterfly-lighting

[Previz](https://aimpreviz.com/) / [Techniques](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques) / Lighting · Intermediate

# Butterfly Lighting

Butterfly Lighting is a lighting technique: Key light high and dead centre, casting a small butterfly-shaped shadow under the nose. The classic glamour light. In PREVIZ picking it sets the lighting setup in Keyframe. It reads as romantic and cinematic, and the library rates it intermediate.

Published 29 Sep 2026Updated 4 Oct 2026by the PREVIZ team

What it does to the frame

Key light high and dead centre, casting a small butterfly-shaped shadow under the nose. The classic glamour light.

- **Reads as** — Romantic, Cinematic
- **Difficulty** — Intermediate
- **Runs in** — Keyframe

The control it moves in PREVIZ

- Lighting setup Keyframe

  Butterfly

  Overhead beauty light

Picking the technique sets these controls; it does not paste text into a prompt. The setting can be re-run, checked against the settings beside it, and carried into the next shot.

## Also in lighting

Where the light comes from and what it leaves in shadow — the setups and the moods of the day and the night.

- **[Chiaroscuro](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/chiaroscuro)

Advanced · Dramatic, Artistic** — Extreme contrast between light and dark with very little in between. Borrowed from Baroque painting; the darkness does as much work as the light.
- **[Rembrandt Lighting](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/rembrandt-lighting)

Intermediate · Dramatic, Cinematic** — Key light high and to one side, leaving a small triangle of light on the shadowed cheek. The classical portrait setup.
- **[Split Lighting](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/split-lighting)

Intermediate · Dramatic, Horror** — The light comes from ninety degrees to the side, so half the face is lit and half is in shadow. Reads as division or duplicity.
- **[Rim Light](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/rim-light)

Basic · Cinematic, Dramatic** — Light from behind that traces a bright edge around the subject, separating them from the background. Almost every night exterior uses it.
- **[Silhouette](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/silhouette)

Intermediate · Artistic, Dramatic** — The subject is unlit against a bright background, reduced to outline. Identity withheld — shape carries the whole shot.
- **[Under-Lighting](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/under-lighting)

Basic · Horror** — Light from below the face, inverting every shadow you expect. The campfire-story look, and the fastest way to make a face read as wrong.
- **[Golden Hour](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/golden-hour)

Basic · Romantic, Nostalgic** — The hour after sunrise or before sunset. Low, warm, and very soft — flattering to almost everything, which is why it is worth the wait.
- **[Blue Hour](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/blue-hour)

Intermediate · Nostalgic, Artistic** — The twilight window after the sun is gone but before full dark. Cool, even, and just bright enough to hold detail in the sky.
- **[Harsh Noon](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/harsh-noon)

Intermediate · Documentary, Dramatic** — Overhead midday sun. Short hard shadows and blown highlights — usually avoided, which is exactly why it reads as unglamorous and real.
- **[Practical Light](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/practical-light)

Intermediate · Cinematic, Documentary** — The scene is lit by lamps, screens and signs that are visible in the shot. Motivated light — the viewer can see where it comes from.
- **[Neon Lighting](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/neon-lighting)

Intermediate · Cinematic, Artistic** — Saturated coloured light from signage, usually two clashing hues. The look of a city at night in almost every film made since 1982.
- **[Candlelight](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/candlelight)

Advanced · Romantic, Nostalgic** — Lit only by flame. Very warm, very soft, and falls off fast — faces glow and everything a metre away is gone.
- **[Moonlight](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/moonlight)

Intermediate · Horror, Artistic** — Cool, dim, directional light with deep shadows. Cinema's moonlight is a convention — real moonlight is far dimmer and has no colour at all.
- **[High Key](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/high-key)

Basic · Romantic, Documentary** — Bright and evenly lit with almost no shadow. The look of comedy, commercials and daytime television — nothing is hidden.

## Reads the same way

Other techniques that read as romantic or cinematic — a light or a lens to pair with this move.

- **[Low Angle](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/low-angle)

Basic · Dramatic, Cinematic** — The camera sits below the subject and looks up. Reach for it when someone should read as powerful, imposing, or in control of the room.
- **[Bird's Eye View](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/birds-eye)

Intermediate · Artistic, Cinematic** — Straight down from directly overhead. Flattens the scene into pattern and geometry, and detaches the viewer from the action entirely.
- **[Three-Quarter Angle](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/three-quarter)

Basic · Cinematic, Documentary** — Between straight-on and profile. The default flattering angle for faces — it gives the head volume that a square-on shot loses.
- **[Behind the Subject](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/behind-subject)

Intermediate · Cinematic, Dramatic** — Directly behind, seeing what they see. Puts the viewer at the character's shoulder and makes the environment ahead the subject of the shot.
- **[Over-the-Shoulder](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/over-the-shoulder)

Basic · Cinematic, Dramatic** — From behind and to one side, with the near shoulder in frame. The workhorse of dialogue coverage — it fixes who is looking at whom.
- **[Close-Up](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/close-up)

Basic · Dramatic, Cinematic** — Head and shoulders. The standard shot for performance — close enough that the face carries the scene.
- **[Medium Shot](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/medium-shot)

Basic · Documentary, Cinematic** — Waist up. Holds the figure and enough of the room to read body language — the neutral shot most scenes are built from.
- **[Wide Shot](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/wide-shot)

Basic · Cinematic** — The whole figure with the space around it. Establishes where everyone is standing before the scene tightens in.
- **[Extreme Wide Shot](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/extreme-wide)

Intermediate · Cinematic, Artistic** — The figure is small against the landscape. Scale is the subject — the person is there to give the environment a size.
- **[Push In](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/push-in)

Basic · Dramatic, Cinematic** — The camera moves steadily toward the subject. The most reliable way to tell an audience that this moment matters.
- **[Pull Back](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/pull-back)

Basic · Cinematic** — The camera withdraws, revealing context that was outside the frame. The reveal is the point.
- **[Orbit](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/orbit-shot)

Intermediate · Cinematic, Action** — The camera circles the subject while holding them centred. Shows an object from every side, or builds pressure around a person.
- **[Crane Up](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/crane-up)

Intermediate · Cinematic** — The camera rises through the shot. Conventionally an ending — it lifts away and lets the scene go.
- **[Steadicam Float](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/steadicam-float)

Intermediate · Cinematic, Documentary** — Smooth walking movement with none of the jitter of true handheld. Follows a subject through space without calling attention to itself.
- **[Tracking Shot](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/tracking-shot)

Intermediate · Cinematic, Action** — The camera travels alongside a moving subject, holding them in frame. Keeps them the fixed point while the world moves past.
- **[Rack Focus](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/rack-focus)

Advanced · Dramatic, Cinematic** — Focus shifts from one plane to another mid-shot. Redirects the viewer's attention without moving the camera or cutting.
- **[Shallow Focus](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/shallow-focus)

Basic · Cinematic, Romantic** — Only a thin slice of the scene is sharp. Isolates the subject from its surroundings and is most of what makes an image read as 'cinematic'.
- **[Anamorphic](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/anamorphic-wide)

Intermediate · Cinematic** — Squeezed capture that yields a very wide frame, oval bokeh and horizontal blue flares. The most recognisable 'big film' signature there is.
- **[Vintage Glass](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/vintage-glass)

Intermediate · Nostalgic, Romantic** — Older uncoated lenses: lower contrast, swirling backgrounds and flares that bloom easily. Imperfection used deliberately.
- **[Halation](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/halation-glow)

Intermediate · Nostalgic, Cinematic** — A red bloom around bright lights, caused by light scattering back through film stock. The signature of tungsten film shot at night.
- **[Diffusion](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/diffusion-bloom)

Basic · Romantic, Nostalgic** — A filter that lifts blacks and blooms highlights, taking the edge off digital sharpness. The standard way to soften a face.
- **[Day for Night](https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques/day-for-night)

Advanced · Cinematic, Horror** — Shot in daylight and graded to read as night. Sun becomes moonlight, which is why the shadows are always too crisp for real darkness.

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