Reference Photo Lighting Planner
Start with your own readings. Calculate the change, verify a frame, and save what works.
Photo → lighting plan
Turn a reference into a practical lighting hypothesis, meter-target map and shooting guide.
Turn a reference photograph into a lighting plan you can test
Use the photograph as a visual goal, then build a plausible setup around the lights and space you actually have. The planner separates visible clues from assumptions and connects source placement, proposed regional meter targets, and a step-by-step shooting workflow. Automatic image interpretation is offered only when the service is available; self-guided work uses observations you enter.
- Upload a reference you are allowed to use. Choose what matters most: direction, softness, shadow contrast, background separation or the overall mood. Record your available equipment and constraints.
- Compare practical approaches. Review the proposed source diagram and meter-target map, then adjust the creative stop differences and your reference meter aperture. These are suggested goals, not measurements recovered from the picture.
- Establish ambient, build the key, and add each supporting source deliberately. Enter actual isolated readings to guide supported power changes. Photograph, inspect important detail, and save the working plan.
If you choose an f/8 face reference, a chest target one stop lower is approximately f/5.6; two stops lower is f/4. Those are incident-light goals using one consistent meter method and source scope. They do not prove the original exposure or guarantee the same rendered skin or fabric tones.
Can the tool recover the photographer’s exact settings?
No. A finished image cannot uniquely establish flash power, source count, distance, camera settings or retouching. The planner proposes approaches to test with your gear.
Do the f-stops on different areas mean different camera apertures?
No. Your camera uses one aperture. The map describes proposed meter readings at different scene locations. Compare them using the same ISO, receptor orientation, metering method and selected light sources.
Can one power adjustment make the face brighter and chest darker?
Not if the same light reaches both in a fixed proportion. Change placement, feathering, flags or source arrangement, then meter again. Use the spill mapper for separately measured source contributions.
Are uploaded images saved with my setup?
The image preview is temporary. Saved plans retain text and working settings, not the uploaded image. If you request automatic analysis when available, the image is sent to the analysis service; review the notice shown at that action.
What makes a plan useful on the next shoot?
Record the actual readings, equipment, placement, camera exposure and keeper-frame notes. Recheck the light when the subject, room, modifier or pulse-capture conditions change.
Learn the decision behind the setting.
By Dwayne of DNA Premium Portraits, Sacramento-area portrait photographer. See formulas, assumptions and equipment sources.
Want help turning this plan into a photograph?
Bring this lighting goal to a private Sacramento workshop. Three hours, your equipment, one focused learning plan.