LIGHTSCHEMESStructured lighting intelligence

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Labs

Change one thing and watch the light respond — or bring your own photo.

  • Flash at sync speed: one hard flash shadow on a white wall
    Recipe: 1/200 s
    Slow shutter with flash: the room lamps streak, the flash freezes the face
    Recipe: about 1/15 s

    Read your photo

    Drop in one of your own photos and see what its shutter, aperture, ISO and flash say about the light. Read in your browser, never uploaded.

  • Smallest source: a crisp, hard shadow edge beside the nose
    3°
    Largest source: the same edge, wide and soft
    74°

    Light quality & softness

    One portrait, one key angle, lit through ever-larger sources — scrub the modifier and watch the shadow edge soften as the light grows in the sky.

  • Little fill: the shadow cheek falls far below the lit cheek
    8:1
    More fill: the shadow cheek lifts toward the lit cheek
    2:1

    Ratio Lab

    Drag one shadow-fill control and watch the key-to-fill ratio move in stops — gentle, classic 3:1, dramatic, low-key.

  • Softbox close: the face wraps soft and the wall behind falls dark
    0.5 m
    Softbox pulled back: the nose shadow deepens and the wall behind lifts
    1.5 m

    Softbox distance

    Same softbox at close, mid, and far — softness follows how big the source looks from the face, not only the power dial.

  • High frontal key: both eyes lit, a small shadow under the nose and a deeper one under the chin
    Butterfly
    A split-lit face, one half in shadow
    Split

    Name the pattern

    Look at a portrait the library already labels and pick butterfly, loop, split, clamshell, or rim. Then open the setup and check the badge.

  • Widest lens: nose and brow push toward the camera
    24 mm
    Longer lens: the same face, flatter and broader, the clock looming close behind
    135 mm

    Focal length & perspective

    One portrait at seven focal lengths, framing held constant — scrub the lens and see perspective change because the camera moved, not the glass.

  • Anchor settings: the portrait exposed as set
    1/125 s · f/5.6
    Slow shutter: the raised hand smears while the face holds
    1/8 s · f/5.6

    Camera essentials

    One portrait, rendered live — set the room from a sunlit window to candlelight, then answer it with ISO, shutter, and aperture.