There is an irritating trend in the miniature painting community to reinvent the wheel. Here is an example.
Over past couple of years I've noticed the term Zenithal Lighting used in reference to a style of miniature painting on the Internet and in seminar listings. I'm familiar with the application of Zenith lighting with regard to the illumination of building interiors but the use of the term in miniature painting was new to me. So, I did what most of us do these days when we have a question, turn to the search engines. As extensive as they are the searches only turned up six references to miniature painting and Zenith or Zenithal Lighting. In each case the question was asked: "what is Zenithal Lighting". All the answers were the same, Zenithal Lighting is Overhead Lighting. One post included diagrams from Shep Paine's work demonstrating the stop sign rule. The original poster who had difficulty in defining what he meant by his "Zenithal Painting Technique" seamed embarrassed to find out that it was a well known technique that was written about and demonstrated by some masterful painters like Paine, Latorre, Chacon, Fuentes and Horan. The models that were painted with Zenithal Lighting looked the same as models that were painted with an Overhead lighting scheme and none of the "Zenithal Artists" argued that there was a difference.
So, why try to reinvent something that has already been around for a long time? Was someone just unaware of the term Overhead Lighting, looking for a catchy phrase to help them sell seminar seats, or attempting to elevate their position in the painting community as the proponent of an elite technique? Your guess is as good as any other.
My involvement with miniature painting and modeling has spanned several decades and I have witnessed many changes over the years. Most of these changes have been good ones that benefit painters, gamers and modelers. These are real changes in equipment, supplies and methods. Renaming something doesn't make it new or better.