Lighting
Hard and Soft Lighting
In lighting there is hard and soft types of light which are used depending on the topic, location etc...Here i will look at the differences between hard and soft lighting. I will also look at when these types of lighting are used.
Hard Light
Hard light shows shadows as it is normally a bright light directly pointing at the person, object, location etc... The reason for the shadows is that there are no light reflectors used to bounce the light therefore the images which appear have a contrast of light and dark. It also creates hard edges which defines objects unlike soft lighting.
As you can see from the image above hard light is when the light is smaller than the object it's targeting therefore it creates dark shadows with sharp edges.
Soft Light
Soft light is the opposite to hard light as this type of lighting doesn't create any shadows in the images. The light used is bounced around in different directions therefore it is not directly hitting the subject matter. The edges of this type of lighting are very soft even in the shadow areas as this will depend on the distance and the size of the light being reflected. An example of soft lighting is the sun, it's light is reflected through the clouds and therefore creates a soft light.
As I mentioned previously soft lighting is created from bouncing a light in different directions in order to not shine directly on the person, object, location etc... Light can be bounced by using reflectors these reflectors have a silver and white side in order to bounce lighting differently and produce a variety of soft lighting. Light can also be bounced by white walls or ceilings anything white for example during the summer months people tend to wear white clothing in order to bounce of the light and heat of them.
As you can see from the image above soft light is created when the light is larger that the object being reflected. The shadows aren't defined therefore edges appear softer than in hard lighting.
3 Point Lighting
3 point lighting is used in photography, films and documentaries in order to add light to the shots and create a mood whether it is positive or negative. This type of lighting consists or lights placed in three positions around the room. The light used directly on the person or object is known as the key light, this is the main light of the entire shot as it is the strongest out of the 3. It is placed on one of the sides of the subject which creates shadows on the person or object.
i.e. the sun is used as a key light when shooting outdoors during daytime
The fill light is another light used in the 3 point lighting which lights the person or object, it is placed opposite to the key light. This light tends to be set at a lower height than the key light. The purpose of this is to be able to illuminate the areas where the key light has created shadows and therefore fills them with more light to create a softer effect. The use of the fill light makes the lighting look more realistic as the hard edge shadows from the key light are illuminated and therefore appear softer.
The back light is the other light used in 3 point lighting, this light is placed behind the object or person. It doesn't focus so much on lighting the person or object but rather defining and highlighting their outlines. This also separates the person or object from the background used.
Below is an example of 3 point lighting:
Below is a 3 point lighting simulator which shows how the object or person would look if one of more lights would be switched of.
Resources
Below are sources which I have used to research this topic area:
- http://www.illustratedphotography.com/basic-photography/hard-and-soft-light
- http://www.shortcourses.com/tabletop/lighting2-8.html
- http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d8/3_point_lighting.svg/729px-3_point_lighting.svg.png
- http://www.mediacollege.com/lighting/three-point/
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