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Principles
of
Light
by Darina Kopcok
principles of light
The following is a summary of the lighting principles in
LightShaping: Getting Started with Artificial Light for Food
Photography. Refer to these pages when crafting your light, or you
don’t understand why your light is behaving the way that it does.

Keeping these principles in mind while you shoot will allow you to
predict what your light will do and work with it accordingly.

Eventually, you’ll commit them to memory and problem solving

your light will be second nature.

Principles of Light 2
Copyright© 2020 by Darina Kopcok
• The effective size of the light source is the most important
factor in lighting because it determines what types of shadows
are produced.

• The bigger the light source, the broader and softer your light.

• Hard light is characterized by distinct shadows, sharp

gradations between light and shadow, and a high-contrast look.

• Soft light is characterized by shadows that have more of an

obvious transition from dark to light and this gradient is much
smoother.

• Undiffused light comes directly from the light source and

creates shadows with harder edges and higher contrast.
Diffused light creates shadows with softer edges and less
contrast.

• The closer your light is to the subject, the softer the shadows,
while the further it is from the subject, the harder the shadows.

• The closer your subject is to the light source, the bigger the
shadows will be because your subject is blocking more of the
light. The opposite is true. The further away your light source,
the smaller the shadows will be because the subject is blocking
less of the light source.

• What determines how hard your light will be is the size of the
light source. The larger the light source, the softer the shadow
transitions will be. The smaller the light source, the more
abrupt the shadow transitions will be.

Principles of Light 3
Copyright© 2020 by Darina Kopcok
• If you move your light source away, it becomes smaller relative
to the subject. Bring it closer, it becomes bigger relative to the
subject.

• The bigger the modifier is relative to the subject, the softer

the light will be. The smaller the modifier is in relation to the
subject, the harder the light will be.

• A modifier can increase the effective size of a light source.

• Large lights produce soft shadows because they illuminate the

subject from many different angles. Moving the light away from
the subject increases contrast by reducing the range of angles
that light can strike the subject.

• Diffusion scatters light and making the light source broader

and therefore softer.

• Bouncing light acts as diffusion because it reflects and

scatters light over a wider area. It adds to the distance that that
light has to travel to hit the subject.

• The direction of light relative to the subject determines where

the highlights and shadows will fall.

• The height and angle of your light source make a difference to

your shadows. The higher your light source, the shorter your
shadows will be because the light is pointing directly down
onto the subject. A lower light source will produce longer
shadows.

Principles of Light 4
Copyright© 2020 by Darina Kopcok
• The shadows will always face in the opposite direction to your
light source. As you move your light source backwards and
forward, or from left to right, the shadows will move in the
opposite direction.

• High contrast occurs when light rays strike the subject from
nearly the same angle. Light striking the subject from many
different angles results in low contrast.

• A small light source is usually a hard light source, while a large

light source is a soft one. The physical size of a light source does
not necessarily determine its effective size.

• The further a gobo is from your subject, the softer the shadows
will be. The closer it is to the subject, the more defined the
shadows will be.

• A light source that is large in comparison to the subject and

placed close to the subject produces soft fill light.

Principles of Light 5
Copyright© 2020 by Darina Kopcok