The light family (halftones, highlights, speculars, reflected light, terminator)
Separate and control halftones, highlights, speculars, reflected light, and the terminator across the lit side of a form.
What it is
The light family covers the lit side of a form up to the terminator, where light stops reaching it. It includes five zones: halftones, highlights, speculars, reflected light, and the terminator.
Halftones are the broad values between the highlight and terminator that describe roundness. Highlights are the brightest points on matte surfaces facing the light most directly. Speculars are sharp, mirror-like reflections of the light source on shiny materials.
Reflected light comes from nearby surfaces and can appear on planes turning away from the light before full shadow. On rounded forms, the terminator is a band where halftones transition into core shadow. Control each zone's location, size, and transition.
Why it matters
Separating these zones helps describe volume, material, and light direction. Weak control can make forms look airbrushed or plastic, place highlights against the form, give matte surfaces inappropriate speculars, or make reflected light obscure the edge.
You can check it when
- ✓Paint a simple lit object and identify the halftones, highlight, specular, reflected light, and terminator.
- ✓Check that the zones follow the light direction and material: halftones transition across the form, highlights and speculars sit on light-facing planes, and reflected light remains weaker than the lit areas.