Rembrandt Lighting

Rembrandt is generally considered one of the greatest painters. An illuminated triangle characterizes Rembrandt lighting under the eye of the subject on the less bright side of the face.

If you want to learn more about achieving this look, read my earlier blog post where I show some of the student’s work from a workshop I did in Kona, Hawaii, with the School of Photography at Youth With A Mission here.

Create Triangle with Off-Camera Flash

Another triangle used by professional photographers is the triangle created between the camera, subject, and flash.

Here you can see the simple setup I used for the photo above. The sun was behind the clouds. I caught this photo just in between showers. The flash also helped give that needed pop on an overcast day.

Create Triangle with Subject

Another way to use the triangle in photography is subject placement within a frame. For example, putting subjects in a group photo in triangles creates a pleasing composition.

Create Triangle with Gear

To make your camera stable, we also use a triangle. Three legs to our tripods and light stands create a stable platform for our camera and light stands.

May the triangle be present in your photographs: from lighting, composition, and support.