Lighting in photography is a form of communication between the artist and the viewer. It’s a means to provide depth to the image, to emphasize something specific. It can be used as a language to tell a thousand stories.

A competent photographer must have a firm grasp of lighting and how it can be leveraged to communicate a feeling or an emotion.

What is Soft Light

Soft light or Diffuse lighting involves gentler colours where the subject features a gradual transition between light and shadow. Soft light gives subjects a softer, warmer visual profile by de-emphasizing the harshness of strong light sources and shadows.

How to Produce Soft Light

There are various ways to produce soft light. Naturally, soft light is produced when the sun is covered by clouds or by sunlight seeping through a window. To artificially create soft light, natural light can be taken and bounced through a reflector or sent through a diffusion panel.

When is Soft Light Used

Soft Light is used for fashion photography, interviews, food photography, romantic/comedy films and generally for things where the goal is to inspire warmth, cosiness and comfort. Soft lighting aims to make its subject look friendly and attractive while masking any physical flaws.

Some films also use soft lighting subversively. An example of this is “Ran” by Akira Kurosawa, which expertly uses bright, soft colours contrasted by its hopelessly bleak narrative.

What are Examples of Soft Light?

An example of soft lighting can be found all over in Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation”, which is a romance film about two loners meeting on a trip to Tokyo and falling in love.

What is Hard Light

Hard light is a specific kind of lighting that provides a harsher texture to a photo while accentuating the contrast between light and shadow. Hard light is generally rougher and gives its subject a serious, dramatic look. In hard light, the subject’s silhouette will be outlined by a sharp, hard shadow.

In painting, this sharp contrast between light and shadow is referred to as “Chiaroscuro” and can be found all over the paintings of the Italian painter Caravaggio. This is why hard light is also referred to as “Chiaroscuro lighting.

How to Produce Hard Light

Hard Light can be produced through a natural light source like bright sunlight. To artificially create hard light, a smaller light source should be used and placed closer to the subject. A large light source will cause light to spread everywhere, resulting in a softer image.

In the case of using a large light source, it should be placed much farther away from the subject to cast hard light.

When is Hard Light Used?

Hard Light is used for photos that aim to convey a strong, powerful emotion. It provides more depth to a subject’s overall image, emphasizing their features. It puts focus to the subject’s finer details, and outlines a sharp silhouetted image.

If you’re trying to paint an image that conveys grittiness and wants to put an emphasis on the drama, then hard lighting is your friend.

What are Examples of Hard Lighting?

Hard light was used all the time in film noir, which makes sense given the dark, moody tone of the genre. The two Blade Runner movies are littered with examples of hard light.

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