Portrait lighting, drawn to its essence. Thirty setups as hand-drawn diagrams — each paired with a portrait etching of the resulting light, the build instructions, and the lineage of the photographers and painters who made it famous.
What it does
01
Every setup pairs a top-down diagram with a chiaroscuro portrait etching of the light itself — where it lands, where the shadow falls, what the catchlights do. Tap either to study it full screen.
02
Key, fill, accent, background, camera — five plain-language rows per setup, written the way you’d say them on set. Seven setups need no lights at all; ten need exactly one.
03
Who made each light famous — Rembrandt and Vermeer, von Sternberg and Hurrell, Avedon, Fan Ho, Leibovitz — with a history essay that ties four centuries into one story.
04
A 51-term glossary of modifiers, light and flash craft; essays on seeing light first and ratios without the maths; and Sessions — named lighting plans that open full screen on set.
Everything included
One price includes all thirty setups, every portrait etching, the glossary, the essays, Sessions — and everything added in future updates. No in-app purchases, no subscriptions.
Schema di Luce has no user accounts, no servers of its own, no analytics and no tracking. The entire library ships inside the app and works offline; your favourites and sessions never leave your device.
Part of a trilogy
Schema di Luce is the lighting reference in a trilogy of three — with Forma di Luce for posing and Diario di Luce for the journal. Buy all three together — less than the two guides alone.
Explore the trilogy →