amirali mohammadi Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 Hello Dear friends and professors, please guide me, Unfortunately, I sometimes have trouble recognizing hard and soft light, for example in this image, I'm hesitant whether the light on Paul Newman's face is soft or hard? On the one hand I think this light is relatively soft and on the other hand I say it is relatively hard. My argument for soft light is that the light source is winter light provided by the window so the light should be soft. And my other argument is that the direction of the key light hits the actor from the position of three quarters, and this is a relatively hard light that creates a triangle of light on the face, with dense shadows. I'm really confused. I'm sorry, I know my questions are obvious .Thanks for your help 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member David Mullen ASC Posted April 29, 2021 Premium Member Share Posted April 29, 2021 There are many degrees between hard and soft. This is a warm semi-hard, semi-soft light as if from the bar. Could be something like a 2K zip light for example. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amirali mohammadi Posted April 29, 2021 Author Share Posted April 29, 2021 42 minutes ago, David Mullen ASC said: There are many degrees between hard and soft. This is a warm semi-hard, semi-soft light as if from the bar. Could be something like a 2K zip light for example. Thank you very much Master Mullen.??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Santucci Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 A hard light will cast shadows with hard edges (as with the sun) and will create smaller highlights. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albion Hockney Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 The light on Newman is pretty dim. often dim subtle light is confused for a soft light. The vibe of this shot is more from the fact he is near silhouette in front of the window. the light on his face is just a subtle touch, if it was a soft light instead of the semi hard approach the look wouldn't be that much changed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Santucci Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 Yes, that's not the best example to make that kind of judgement with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amirali mohammadi Posted April 30, 2021 Author Share Posted April 30, 2021 12 hours ago, Albion Hockney said: The light on Newman is pretty dim. often dim subtle light is confused for a soft light. The vibe of this shot is more from the fact he is near silhouette in front of the window. the light on his face is just a subtle touch, if it was a soft light instead of the semi hard approach the look wouldn't be that much changed. Yes you are right, the overall effect is semi-silhouette and the key light did not have much effect on the overall effect. However, in analyzing my dissertation, I have to point out exactly the quality of the light. Thank you very much for your answer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amirali mohammadi Posted April 30, 2021 Author Share Posted April 30, 2021 14 hours ago, Christopher Santucci said: A hard light will cast shadows with hard edges (as with the sun) and will create smaller highlights. Thank you very much for your answer. Yes, as Master Mullen pointed out, this is a semi-hard, semi-soft light Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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