Underlighting
Watch as an animation →
In plain words
Light comes up from below the face, so the shadows rise upward. It is the opposite of normal sunlight, so the face looks strange and eerie.
When to use it
Telling a scary story, the first reveal of a villain, when a phone, campfire or flashlight is below the face.
Example videos
Will AI handle it well?
Public AI example available — The Melies 'Underlighting' page has a prompt example that names a light source under the chin. Camera presets do not apply (this is a lighting technique).
One-click prompt
Underlighting, a girl telling ghost stories at a sleepover holds a candle under her chin, her face lit from below with upward shadows on the cheeks and nose, close-up, locked-off camera, 85mm lens, dark bedroom background, spooky playful mood, 5-second shot.
Tell the AI like this
close-up of a man's face lit only from below by a phone screen at chest height, shadows climbing over his cheekbones and eye sockets, dark room, everything else black
Example films
Frankenstein (1931) — The monster is lit from below, so the shadows of the brow ridge and eye sockets look flipped (Melies). PremiumBeat also uses a Boris Karloff still from this film as an example of lighting from below.
See it in real films and ads
PremiumBeat — Exploring the Emotion and Beauty Behind Uplighting