Jim Nelson Posted February 6, 2010 Share Posted February 6, 2010 Hi, can someone please help me out. I know that hard lights have harsh highlights (and hard shadows) and soft lights have soft highlights (and soft to no shadows). My question is: as you go for closer shots (medium and close up) do you notice the harshness of the highlight even more? Im not talking about the shadows here, I talking about whether the quality of the highlight is more noticeable as you go for closer shots (medium and close up)? Thanks for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Adrian Sierkowski Posted February 6, 2010 Premium Member Share Posted February 6, 2010 Well it certainly gets bigger looking on the screen. Generally, the closer in you get the softer you get with your lighting, and go into beauty lighting, normally. You can get away with more in a wide shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Paul Bruening Posted February 7, 2010 Premium Member Share Posted February 7, 2010 It's not easy determining the information you're looking for. If your question assumes that the lighting will remain the same between the wide shot and the mediums/close-ups the answer is, "Yes. The lighting will be more noticeable." That may not be a bad thing, though. It may be a useful look. Generally, it's more common practice to let light be harder on wide shots and somewhat softer the closer you get. The reasons have, in part, to do with our brains and the perceptive experience of a movie. In a wide shot, more definition of shape from sharper lighting can make the acceptance of facial shape easier. But, at close-up, harsh light and sharp shadows can be disturbing and compete for recognition and perceptive participation of that face. Softer light and softer shadows define a close-up'd face fine without jarring the viewer with harshness. That's not a rule, just a tendency in lighting. And as Adrian pointed out so well, it's normal for the lighting units to behave that way anyway. That help? We can take a stab at anything, you know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Nelson Posted February 11, 2010 Author Share Posted February 11, 2010 Thank you very much. It helped a lot :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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