There is no single, definitive version of someone’s face. Some versions are simply better lit than others…
We talk about seeing people in their “true light”, as though somewhere out there exists the one ‘correct’ version of your face.
But of course that notion doesn’t stand up to a moment’s scrutiny! Consider: there is your face in morning sunlight, your face under the bathroom downlights, your face in a changing-room mirror, your face across a candlelit table. All are equally real, though admittedly some are considerably more welcome than others.
Daylight has somehow acquired a reputation for honesty, presumably because it comes from the sun, but hang on a minute! There is nothing morally superior about being illuminated from directly above by a star 93 million miles away.
Painters have long been on to this Take Johannes Vermeer… His Girl with a Pearl Earring would be a much less alluring picture if every inch of the sitter were evenly illuminated. Instead, the light catches her face, lips and pearl while everything else slips gently away…
And there’s cinema. The great Hollywood stars were surrounded by people whose job was, quite literally, to make sure the light fell in the right place. Greta Garbo was still Greta Garbo; she simply had excellent lighting.
True, there is perhaps a tiny amount of vanity involved in all this…. But so what? We choose clothes that suit us, arrange our hair with care, and apply makeup as needed. Why should lighting alone be required to tell the unvarnished truth?
Besides, flattering people and flattering rooms turn out to require much the same things: warmth, softness, light coming from several directions and a few well-placed shadows.
Which brings us to lamps.
How to look marvellous by lamplight
1) Turn off the Big Light.
A fierce light directly overhead casts shadows beneath eyes, noses and chins and tends to make rooms feel rather flat too. Save it for finding lost contact lenses.
2) Put light beside people.
Table lamps, floor lamps and wall lights bring light closer to face level, where it arrives from the side rather than dropping from the ceiling. Much kinder.
3) Use several little lights.
A few gentle pools of light around a room create a softer effect than one heroic bulb attempting to illuminate absolutely everything.
4) Give the bulb something to wear.
A fabric lampshade diffuses the light and softens its edges. Different materials produce different effects, but as a general principle, shaded light is your friend.
5) Keep things warm.
For most living spaces, bulbs around 2700–3000K give a warm, comfortable glow rather than the chilly brilliance associated with offices, surgeries and other places where nobody particularly expects to look fabulous.
6) Keep a few shadows.
You don’t need to illuminate every pore, object and corner. A little darkness gives faces shape and rooms atmosphere (that Vermeer knew what he was doing).
There is no prize for seeing your friends under the most unforgiving lighting conditions available. So begone, false sunlight! Put on a lamp, everyone and everything in the room will look better for it.
Find your perfectly flattering lights here.
Image top: A Girl Reading by William Etty (1787–1849). Credit: York Museums Trust, public domain.