Jump to content

Soft and hard light


Recommended Posts

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

Screenshot (1386).png

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...