The Light in Your Eye: A Deep Dive Into the Art of the Catch Light

If the eyes are the widows of the soul, then the right catch light can throw those metaphorical windows wide open, revealing your portrait subject in profound and powerful ways.

In this fascinating video on catch lights, Dedo Weigert dives deep into this crucial detail as it relates to portraiture and filmmaking. By showing you different examples and explaining how they were created, Dedo reveals the message tucked just below the surface of the different catch lights you have available to you.

“The purpose of this film is to inspire those who shoot and light, to spend a little time to look at the reflections in the eye, and how this can be used to effect,” he writes, “and also to provide some insight into how these reflections can be created, controlled, and shaped.”

We started with a saying, so lets end with one too: the devil is in the details. If you ignore your catch lights or treat them as an afterthought, your portraits will rarely “sparkle” the way they could. And if you’ve never given much thought to catch lights in the first place, this in-depth breakdown is a great place to start.