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Rembrandt lighting

Rembrandt lighting noun: a form of lighting used in studio portrait photography and cinematography, characterized by an illuminated triangle (the "Rembrandt patch") under the eye of the subject on the less illuminated side of the face.

Noun

Rembrandt lighting (uncountable)

  1. A form of lighting used in studio portrait photography and cinematography, characterized by an illuminated triangle (the "Rembrandt patch") under the eye of the subject on the less illuminated side of the face.

Origin of Rembrandt lighting

Named in allusion to the artistic style of Rembrandt; attributed to filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille.

Questions about Rembrandt lighting

What does Rembrandt lighting mean?
Rembrandt lighting means a form of lighting used in studio portrait photography and cinematography, characterized by an illuminated triangle (the "Rembrandt patch") under the eye of the subject on the less illuminated side of the face.
What part of speech is Rembrandt lighting?
Rembrandt lighting is a noun.

Words near Rembrandt lighting in the dictionary

  1. rembles
  2. rembling
  3. Rembold
  4. Rembolds
  5. Rembrandt
  6. Rembrandt lighting
  7. Rembrandt patch
  8. Rembrandt patches
  9. Rembrandtesque
  10. Rembrandtian
  11. Rembrandtish

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Rembrandt lighting (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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