Schema di Luce

30 lighting setups as hand-drawn diagrams, each with a portrait etching of the resulting light — plus build instructions, glossary and lineage. Fully offline.

Schema di Luce is a lighting reference for portrait photographers — drawn, not photographed.

Every setup is an elegant top-down line diagram with plain-language build instructions: where the key goes, what the fill does, whether there is an accent, what happens to the background, and where to put the camera. And beside every diagram, a chiaroscuro portrait etching shows the result — where the light lands on a face, where the shadow falls, what the catchlights do. The recipe and the dish, side by side. Tap either to study it full screen.

THE LIBRARY • 30 curated setups across One Light, Two Lights, Natural Light and Classic Looks • A portrait etching beside every diagram, showing the light itself • Build instructions for every setup — key, fill, accent, background, camera — written the way you'd say them on set • Lineage notes on the setups with history: Rembrandt to Hurrell, Vermeer to Leibovitz • Similar setups with every setup, so one idea leads to the next • Search by name, look, gear, mood — or photographer — and tap any tag to see everything that shares it

FROM ONE WINDOW TO A FULL STUDIO Every setup is tagged by gear. Seven setups need no lights at all — a window, a doorway, the sky. Ten need exactly one light. The rest build from there. Rembrandt, Loop, Butterfly, Clamshell, Film Noir, Vermeer Window: the vocabulary of portrait light, in your pocket.

SESSIONS Group favourite setups into a named lighting plan — "Studio day, October" — and open it full-screen on set: swipe between setups, every build instruction in oversized type.

LEARN & GLOSSARY Short essays on the craft: seeing light first, why one light is enough, contrast ratios without the maths, and a history of the portrait light from Caravaggio to the editorial present. Plus a 51-term glossary — modifiers, qualities of light, flash settings, technique — in plain language.

MADE FOR THE SHOOT • Works completely offline — the entire library ships in the app • Light and dark mode; the diagrams adapt to both • Favourites and sessions, stored only on your device • No accounts, no tracking, no subscription — buy once

Schema di Luce is made by the team behind Forma di Luce and Diario di Luce, under the Volto di Luce photography brand.