# Butterfly light

Light and look / Light / Portrait. Checked 2026-11-13.

A polished, flattering face for a talking head.

- Use when: Founders and presenters talking to camera.
- Phrase: one soft key light directly in front of her and slightly above eye level, a small shadow under the nose, a softbox as the source
- Page: https://directorchair.ai/light/butterfly-light
- JSON: https://directorchair.ai/api/light/butterfly-light.json

## Watch out

- Cinematic lighting says nothing to the model. Name the source, where it comes from and the fill. (measured; Director Chair field notes on image prompting)

## Prompts

### Nano Banana Pro

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. One soft key light directly in front of her and slightly above eye level, a small shadow under the nose, a softbox as the source.
```

### Nano Banana 2

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. One soft key light directly in front of her and slightly above eye level, a small shadow under the nose, a softbox as the source.
```

### GPT Image 2.5

```
A photograph of [your subject] in [your setting].
Details: one soft key light directly in front of her and slightly above eye level, a small shadow under the nose, a softbox as the source
Exclusions: no extra text, no watermark, no logo.
```

### Seedream 5

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. One soft key light directly in front of her and slightly above eye level, a small shadow under the nose, a softbox as the source.
```

### Seedance 2.5

```
Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].
Shot 1 (0:00 to 0:05): one continuous shot
Light: one soft key light directly in front of her and slightly above eye level, a small shadow under the nose, a softbox as the source
```

### Seedance 2.0

```
Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].
Shot 1: one continuous shot
Light: one soft key light directly in front of her and slightly above eye level, a small shadow under the nose, a softbox as the source
```

### Kling 3.0

```
[your subject]. The scene is [your setting]. One soft key light directly in front of her and slightly above eye level, a small shadow under the nose, a softbox as the source.
```

### Veo 3.1

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. Framing and subject stay as in the start image. One soft key light directly in front of her and slightly above eye level, a small shadow under the nose, a softbox as the source.
```

## Goes well with

- Rembrandt light: https://directorchair.ai/light/rembrandt-light
- Studio softbox: https://directorchair.ai/light/softbox-light
- Face cam: https://directorchair.ai/format/format-face-cam
- Talking head: https://directorchair.ai/look/look-talking-head

## Source

Own words from the Director Chair hook framework (our 2026 synthesis of @marco.thecreative's TikTok series, OpusClip's hook formulas, a Brandefy article, Meta retention research and a Gemini research report) (the set-up is established portrait lighting)

Text CC BY 4.0, Director Chair (directorchair.ai). Reference clips and their card texts belong to their makers.