Quality of Light

Soft light v Hard light

What’s it all about?
When we describe light by its softness or hardness, what are we referring to?
What’s it all about?

• When we describe light by its softness

or hardness, what are we referring to?
• Softness around the edges of the
shadow

Which one would create a softer light

and why?
We can diffuse light to make any source
softer
Shadow and light

• A soft light will give a slow and gentle

transition between shadow to light
• A hard light will have a very quick transition
from shadow to light

• Try moving your hand towards a wall and

observe how the shadow becomes sharper the
closer you move to it, a sharp shadow is the
result of hard light
What’s it all about?

• We can also diffuse available light

• The sun creates a very hard light but
can be softened by using the diffuser
(most reflectors will have a diffuser
inside the zipped section)
 Reflected light will also
create a soft light as it
What’s it all bounces the light into
about? shadow areas… softening
them
So how do we do it? - Soft light

The lights source must be large in relation to the subject (softbox

close to models face)

The light source can have the size increased by moving it closer to
the subject

To create a soft light in “get the light as close as possible to the

portraiture, the rule is simple… model, without it being in the shot”
Example
Available light
Bounced and reflected around porch
Example
Studio light
Large softbox and lots of light bounced and
reflected around white studio
When should
we use hard find photo images to illustrate each below find photo images to illustrate each below

light?
Why is the sun a hard light source?
 • Soft light today is preferred
as its more forgiving and
complimentary to faces but
previously cinema used
more hard lighting for its
dramatic shadows

Preferred styles change over

time
Hard light

• Preferred for creating strong

shapes
• Difficult to manage in a shoot as
you must be very careful of its
positioning, if soft light is
required you could have loads of
light sources bouncing around
and therefore easier to manage
 On your websites
Create a Title called “Soft v Hard light”
Describe the following and find photo images to illustrate each point below
• Describe the difference between a hard and a soft light? clue: shadow
• Describe how to create soft light in a studio. clue: distance and size
• Describe why and when we would use a soft light source? clue: complimentary
light
• Describe why and when we would use a hard light source? clue: strong shapes
• Describe how we can soften a hard light source like the sun? clue: bounce
and/or diffuse
• Describe how we can soften a hard light source from a bare bulb? clue: bounce
and/or diffuse