From the course: Portrait Photography: Ten Styles with One Light

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Hard vs. soft

Hard vs. soft

- When we talk about the quality of light, we're talking about how hard or how soft it is. A hard light is cast by a small light source, like a light bulb or a bare bulb flash or the sun on a sunny day. When you stand outside on a sunny day, you can see your shadow trailing along behind you and you can see exactly where the edge of that shadow is. And that's because the sun is a very small light, casting one distinct shadow. Conversely, on a cloudy day, the entire sky is lighting you up and you can't see your shadow very distinctly. You can see kind of a dark area down there, but you won't be able to define the exact start and stop edge of your shadow, because now it's a soft light. It's got a soft transition between the light side and the dark side of things. Since we're in the studio, we can turn out the overhead lights so you can see things more clearly. As I shine the light on my hand here, you can see a definite edge to my shadow. That means this is a hard light. It's got a…

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