A skill that makes Claude plan the light for a shoot the way a lighting lead does, one look at a time. For each look it places the key, fill, rim and background light, with the modifier, the angle from the camera, the distance, the height, the level in stops and the colour temperature. It sketches the set from above in plain text, writes the kit list for your budget, and shows how to get the same light from a window or the sun. Share a reference photo and it reads the light in it, measuring the contrast with code when code execution is on.
Inside are five reference files. There are fourteen starting setups for people and products, each with a daylight version. There are the numbers behind ratios, falloff, modifier sizes and exposure, with LEE gel and diffusion values. There is a kit list in five budget tiers with example specs and a few US rental prices, and a full worked shoot for a fictional skincare brand. The rules are strict. Every level is in stops, every mood word has a number behind it, and prices, specs and sun times come from the dated files or from you, never from memory.
It cannot see your set or meter your light, so every number is a starting point, and the day sheet gives you the order to check them in. It takes the light from a reference, never the photograph, and it will not name the photographer. Turn on code execution for measured references, diagrams drawn to scale and a printable day sheet, and web search for sun times and current prices. Send a phone photo of the room along with the product photos. It saves several questions and tells Claude where the windows are.
Claude skill · version 1.0
Lighting plan
Checking your access.
In the download · 7 files
- SKILL.mdThe method Claude follows, in six stages: brief, read the light, plan each look, kit, daylight version and day sheet.
- README.mdHow to install it in claude.ai or Claude Code, how to start, and the licence.
- references/worked-example.mdA full three-look shoot for a fictional skincare brand, worked through all six stages, with the plan, kit list, daylight version and day sheet.
- references/reading-a-reference.mdHow to read the light in a reference photo, clue by clue, with the code Claude runs to measure contrast and colour.
- references/setups.mdFourteen starting setups for people and products, each with its daylight version, plus daylight planning and mixing flash with daylight.
- references/light-numbers.mdRatios in stops, falloff, softness, modifier sizes, exposure starting points, LEE gel and diffusion values, and the diagram rules.
Install it and begin
01Install it in Claude CodeTerminal mkdir -p ~/.claude/skillsunzip ~/Downloads/lighting-plan.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/# Start it with /lighting-plan. If this is your first skill, type /reload-skills once.On claude.ai there is nothing to unzip: upload the zip as it is. Every step is on Install and use a Claude skill.
02Your first message to ClaudeText Use the lighting plan skill. I am shooting [WHAT YOU ARE SHOOTING] in [THE SPACE, ITS SIZE AND WINDOWS]. The looks are [LOOK 1, LOOK 2, LOOK 3]. I own [YOUR LIGHTS AND MODIFIERS] and can spend [RENTAL BUDGET IN USD]. Start with the light brief and tell me what is missing.Attach a reference photo if you have one, a phone photo of the room and photos of the product. Turn on code execution so Claude can measure the reference and draw the diagram to scale.
Checklist
Check a lighting plan before the shoot day
- Every light has a modifier, an angle from the camera, a distance, a height and a level in stops.Anything left out gets guessed on the day, and the guess is usually a stop out.
- Each ratio is written with its stop figure, such as 2.8:1 (1.5 stops).Books count ratios in two ways that disagree by up to a stop. The stop figure is what the meter reads.
- The background has its own target against the key, and a way to reach it.A white background wants about one to one and a half stops over the key. Much more and it flares into the edges.
- The colour plan names one white balance and every gel by name and mired shift.Mixed light nobody planned turns up as two skin colours on one face.
- The kit list fits the hardest look, not the average one, and has a fallback one tier down.One full-length look on white can need three strong heads when every other shot needs one.
- Prices, specs and sun times carry a source and a date, or are marked as quotes to get.A remembered rental price or sunrise time is how a budget or the best hour goes missing.
- The day sheet builds the set one light at a time, starting with a grey card and a colour chart.Adding lights one by one shows which light causes a problem, and the chart settles colour afterwards.
What to do it with
- ClaudeFree tier, paid above it
A language model that writes, edits, reads long documents and runs tools, including agents that work inside a codebase.
Bad at It is agreeable by default, so it will improve a bad idea instead of telling you it is bad. Ask it to argue against you and the quality of the answer changes.
- Claude CodeSubscription
An agent that reads a whole repository, edits files, runs the tests and explains what it changed.
Bad at It is fast enough to make a large mistake quickly. Work on a branch, read the diff, and never let it push. Watch the starting mode: on Pro, Max and Team plans it opens in auto mode, which Anthropic's own list says may read a .env file and send the key in it to the API that key belongs to. Switch it off.
- set.a.light 3DSubscription
Simulates a studio lighting setup before the day, with real modifiers and measurable results.
Bad at A simulation of light is not light. Useful for planning and for teaching, not for final judgement.
- Sun SeekerSubscription
Shows where the sun will be at any hour on any date at a location, on the phone, in the place.
Bad at It tells you where the light will come from and nothing about the weather.
- ColorCheckerSubscription
A printed chart shot at the start of a session so colour can be made objectively correct later.
Bad at Only works if somebody remembers to shoot it. Fades with age and must be replaced.
Why it matters
Ask a chat how to light a product and you get advice about soft, diffused light and a list of modifiers. Nobody can set up from that. A plan says which light, how big, how far, how high and how much brighter than the others, and it has to fit the room and the money. This skill makes Claude answer in positions and stops, ask for what it cannot know, and check the plan against your kit before the day.
- Type
- technique
- Period
- ongoing