Table 1 shows the default presets of the Virtual Lighting Studio. Accompanying each preset is a short description of some of the thinking behind each preset.

Top tip: when making your own lighting configurations:

When adjusting an individual light, try switching all other lights off. This will help you better understand what you are doing.
Don't be afraid resetting all lights in the scene and start again.
Have a clear visual idea in mind and try to achieve that idea.

Table 1. The presets
preset_01.json		This is the default preset. It employs standard three point lighting. Three point lighting is useful to know about, but it is not the only way to light a head.
preset_02.json		In this preset, a black backdrop was employed. Attention was paid to configuring the lights to accentuate edge contrast.
preset_03.json		A colorful one! Note: a real-world light can not maintain a very strong saturation value.
preset_04.json		The aim of this preset was to maintain low overall global contrast. To achieve this, the ambient light value was set to its maximum. Blur your eyes and you will see that the whole image is approximately the same lightness value.
preset_05.json		The reflections of the metal of the skull inspired this very gray render.
preset_06.json		The lighting on the front of the skull was achieved using two snoot lights, one inside of the other. This produced a visually complex result. High contrast was maintained on the skull, whilst the background was set to a deliberately dull mid gray.
preset_07.json		Here the still life was lighted so as to be the darkest part of the image. The background was lighted to accentuate the edges of the solids.
preset_08.json		Here the softness of the blue light was set to very low. This produced a hard-edged shadow. Normally such shadows are avoided, but in this case they were used for dramatic effect. The angular placement of the camera supported this aesthetic.
preset_09.json		This is a variant of the preceding pre-set which was designed to show the impact of color on shadows. See how the shadows of the blue light are orange, and the shadows of the orange light are blue. Of course, the ambient light needed to be set to zero value.
preset_10.json		The aim of this preset was clearly to play around with shadows... especially the shadow on the back wall.