From the course: Learning Lighting: Natural Light

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Understanding soft and hard light

Understanding soft and hard light

From the course: Learning Lighting: Natural Light

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Understanding soft and hard light

Recognizing the quality of light falling upon your subject is the first step towards controlling the outcome of your image. The quality of light in a photograph refers to how hard or soft the light is falling upon your subject. Hard light is considered to be direct, while soft light is diffused. A good way to begin identifying the quality of light is to look at the shadows. A soft light appears to wrap around your subject with a smooth transition from light to shadow, producing soft shadows. Soft light is even and very flattering, allowing your subjects to face the light without squinting. And it provides a subtle gradation in tone. You can find soft light on cloudy overcast days and in open shade. A hard light creates abrupt sharp transitions between light and shadow, producing hard shadows and more contrast. Hard light comes from a single spot or source point and is very directional, think about all the pictures you've taken outside on a sunny day. Remeber those harsh under-eye…

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