Lighting Setup Diagram

Lighting Setup Sketch Tool: how it works

Sketching a lighting setup on a grid does two things. One, your head is clear before the shoot starts. Two, you can later recreate what you did when that one frame just worked.

What the tool does

Drag your subject, photographer, lights, reflectors and background onto a top-down grid. Each light shows a cone, so you see at a glance where the light points and what it falls on. You can toggle lights on and off, rotate them and adjust their intensity. It is not a millimetre-accurate simulation. It is a sketch that works fast and that you can show to an assistant or a co-photographer.

When to use it

In prep, so everyone knows where the lights go before you start building. During the shoot, to try a variant without moving everything around first. After the shoot, to capture a setup that worked so you can repeat it next time. Studio and portrait photographers will get the most out of it, but even with a simple off-camera flash outside, two minutes of sketching beats guessing.

The five basic lights

Key light is the main light, strong and often a little warm. Fill light fills the shadows, softer and more neutral. Hair light comes from behind or above and separates the subject from the background. Rim light is a backlight from the side that draws a line along the silhouette. Background light lifts the backdrop so the subject pops more easily. Custom is for anything that does not fit a category, you set its position and direction yourself.

Advanced mode

If you want more than a top-down sketch, switch to Advanced for a front-view preview on a male or female figure. The preview takes intensity, position and reflector bounce into account. It is not a render of your actual shoot, since light height and modifier hardness are not visible, but it gives you a clear sense of where the light falls. Advanced is a premium feature.

Wrap-up

Better than any sketch is what you actually see on your sensor. But a quick diagram before you start often saves you half an hour of fiddling. Curious which modifier gives which effect? See the light modifiers tool. For flash power at distance there is the flash guide number calculator. And the depth of field calculator pairs well with the same prep session.