Cloudy Skies + Desert Vibes | Butterfly lighting in the desert

Beauty portrait of Yvonne — Portrait of Yvonne using Butterfly lighting. Image captured by Gilbert Duncan Photography

Organ Mountains, Las Cruces, NM, is an amazing place to capture portraits; these majestic mountains make every shoot special. I wanted to capture some outdoor portraits using Butterfly lighting, which is a lighting technique used in portrait photography where the key light is placed above and pointing down on the subject’s face.

Behind the Scenes (BTS) of Butterfly lighting setup. Image captured by Gilbert Duncan Photography

This placement creates a dramatic shadow under the nose and chin, that, when done right will look like a butterfly, hence its name. During this specific shoot I also utilized a silver reflector to diminish any unwanted shadows on her face as well as an additional “kicker” light, that was placed behind her for background separation. This setup provides beautiful, soft light with faint shadows and amazing catchlights.

Behind the Scenes (BTS) footage of Butterly lighting session

The entire sky was filled with clouds creating some amazing soft light, requiring little help from me. Here are some additional images from the session using only natural light. I held a silver reflector during this portion of the shoot to help add light to her eyes for that extra pop.