It is the most powerful light we have available to us and, best of all, it’s free. To achieve this, your film lighting equipment needs to face your subject from three directions: front, back and side (generally). Come back each week to read the whole series. A light’s quality describes the softness of its shadows and how it behaves. Hard light is a harsh souring of light that can be created with a direct beam from a light source or from the sunlight. Hard light is often unwanted. Stay tuned to the end for a chance to win an F7!We've all asked the question "how do I make my footage look more cinematic?" In summary, the difference between hard and soft light is how it renders shadows and its relative distance to a subject; hard lights have definitive shadows while soft lights have smooth and gradual shadows. Distance from a subject is an extremely important factor to consider when regarding the size of the source. There are many ways to harness the power of the sun and its quality. Get out of that soft light rut, and get into hard, contrasty, and unforgiving light. For shadows with no transitional edge/gradient, a point light source is required. The parallelism of these rays determines the quality of the shadows. USA Volumetric lighting requires smaller sources that cast hard shadows to be used effectively – as in the shot below. This helps “sell” the scene to the audience. The hardness or softness of light depends mostly on the following two factors: The softness of a light can also be determined by the angle between the illuminated surface and the direction of the light source. Hard lighting in film is very directional and casts definitive shadows on the subject. I’ve made several of my own DIY solutions to light day exteriors. When you say high key lighting, what you are referring to are scenes that possess a lot of whites and light tones – a whole range of them. Pros. In this article I’m going to explain a few terms and give you some tips on how to find the right light including: 1. Devices that bounce light come in many different forms including foldable reflectors, cost-effective foam core, or even a simple t-shirt. Read Part 1 – Film Lighting Basics: The Tools you Need to Become a Master of Intensity Soft light is light that tends to "wrap" around objects, projecting diffused shadows with soft edges. You can create hard lighting with direct sunlight or a small, powerful light source. And they are also affordable, easily transported, and adaptable to different shooting environments.. Like LEDs, the fluorescent film lighting kits have modest power … But, if you look up, you’ll notice that it’s relative size to us is about the same as your own fingernail. "Soft light" and "Soft lights" redirect here. Supplement the lighting from practicals. To be able to light in the film noir style, you need to remember three things about lighting. This is calledhard light. The only area in which I “cheated” regarding the hard light style was in the use of fill, since that’s a light that’s not supposed to be seen, only felt. Once you have a full understanding of hard and soft light sources, you can combine the two lighting techniques. The distance between the light source and the subject: The closer the light source and subject are to each other, the softer the light becomes. Fill lighting. When hitting a textured surface at an angle, hard light will accentuate the textures and details in an object. Of course, nowadays, more sophisticated lighting technology is used in movie-making, so the three-light technique, while still in use today, has paved the way to more complex lighting setups. Phone: 312-863-3456, The steeper this angle is, the softer the light. Shadows are incredibly important in visual storytelling and the absence of light is just as important as the prevalence of light; the selective use of hard and soft lighting in film plays a vital role in visual storytelling. Soft lighting is generally more forgiving and leaves you with more wiggle room when dialing in your fill. Lighting 102: 4.2 -- Ultra-Hard Light / Film Noir Results form last week's exercise, in which you were asked to experiment with restricted light. Soft light leaves blurry-edged shadows. When shooting outdoors, cloud cover provides nature's version of a softbox. A sunny day is hard light. When your subject is bathed in hard light, their silhouette will cast a distinct, hard shadow. Make a subject appear more beautiful or youthful through making wrinkles less visible. Just cut a few pieces of lightweight PVC pipe to your desired length and cut out a bed sheet to overlap the entire frame. Hard light is often seen as being more dramatic, perhaps even sinister, depending on the final shot. The series will cover Intensity, Quality, Color, Shape, and Direction. Since the light is being dispersed over a broader area, the shadows become softer since more points of contact are lighting them. Using soft light during interviews helps blend the light into the scene itself, almost appearing as if there is no artificial light at all. This is the creativity of light. Film Lighting Basics: What’s the Color of Your Movie? Despite it creating harsh shadows, hard lighting is great for drawing attention to your main subject or to an area of the scene, highlighting your subject’s contour, and creating a strong silhouette. A bare bulb in a sock… First of all, to get a good crisp shadow, you need a small intense light. 401 W Ontario St, Suite 100, Hard light creates sharp and harsh shadows. For a thin infinitely long light source, intensity is inversely proportional to distance. In general, soft light is flattering light. Hard light makes distinct, hard-edged shadows. Hard light casts strong, well defined shadows. In the art world, a painting technique called “chiaroscuro” emphasizes shadows and harsh lighting to create a sense of depth and volume within paintings. $$$, Revenge of the Great Camera Shootout 2012, Film Lighting Basics: The Tools you Need to Become a Master of Intensity. There are various ways to control light to manipulate how it interacts with your subject. Read Part 5 – Film Lighting Basics: Motivate Your Scene and Your Audience Through Direction, One Response to “Film Lighting Basics: Soft Lighting and Hard Lighting in Film”, 4 Reasons to Pay More Attention to Your Soundtrack, 3 Ways to Simplify Your Soundtrack Song Search, 10 Tips for an Indie Film Producer (and anyone who makes film their life), Zacuto - 401 W Ontario St. Chicago, IL 60654 312-863-3456 800-294-FILM [email protected], Zacuto Hard light is a focused, often bright light that casts harsh shadows and draws attention to a specific part of a photo. 60654, Cutouts can be made in the film to place side view LEDs at the appropriate location. Lighting with softer sources can help lift the ambiance of a scene. Reflector spots, Fresnels, theatrical lekos and ellipsoidals make great hard lights. You can create hard light with a small, very intense lighting fixture. There are 12 basic types of lighting used in filmmaking: Key lighting is the main—and strongest—light source in a scene or on the actor. For example, fresnel lights can be focused such that their shadows can be "cut" with crisp shadows. You will get hard light from the midday sun, or a small lighting source. Soft light makes shadows that are barely visible. In the most basic sense, it boils down to two things: hard light and soft light. The (mostly) parallel rays of such instruments tends to cast hard shadows, unlike soft light sources. Focusing a fresnel makes the rays of emitted light more parallel. At large distances, an effective soft light source would have to be very large. The focused light will produce harder-edged shadows. The first uses of artificial lighting have been traced back as far as 1896, when the pioneering German filmmaker Oskar Messter (1866–1943) opened his indoor studio in Berlin. Also this week, an easy way to create a unique light source and a new assignment, all after the jump. This is the 2nd in a 5 part film lighting basics series from Robert Machado and Jeremy Le. Soft light use is popular in cinematography and film for a number of different reasons: on A cloudy day is soft light. It’s entirely possible to have a beautiful, large source that casts harsh shadows if it’s too far away. In the 1940s, filmmakers used lighting to introduce film noir. Light intensity tends to dim with distance. Certain lensed lighting instruments (e.g. Chicago, A popular method is bounce lighting, which uses a large white source and bounces light into the direction of a subject. Well, forget about the perfect light, and go for something different. The style featured dark shadows and low light and became synonymous with dark tales and sinister characters. Fluorescent lights offer a naturally soft light that are common in everyday interiors. In hard lighting, the transition between the light and the shadows is very harsh and defined. For a point source of light, intensity decreases as distance increases. This is Part 2 of a Film Lighting Basics series from Robert Machado and Jeremy Le. It is rendering hard shadows because its distance relative to the subject is too far away. Fill lighting adds dimension and softens harsh shadows created by the key light. Side view LED’s are attached to the edge of the film. Sometimes a scene calls for the use of harsh shadows which we can shape (a topic we will later discuss) in several ways to fit a story. This technique is used to perform "motivated" lighting, where all light in the scene, This page was last edited on 20 October 2020, at 01:29. The best example is the shadow from sunlight in a clear sky. Step out on any sunny day, and you will see the crisp shadows created by this very intense but small light source. Intensity (I) is inversely proportional to the square of the distance (D), as expressed in the formula I = 1⁄D2. Lighting from three directions shapes your subject and sets them apart from their background. Consider the sun. It is important to understand the differences in quality of light between hard and soft, and how to control them respectively. Backlighting is placed behind the actor to help define their features and distinguish them from the background. In "hard" light sources, the parallelism of the rays is an important factor in determining shadow behaviour. It’s that simple and that complicated. Most light sources have a non-negligible size and therefore exhibit the properties of a soft light to some degree. The quality of light can be altered by using diffusion gel or aiming a lighting instrument at diffusing material such as a silk. Notice the hard loop light under the model’s nose and chin. Soft light example with a hard light rim (kicker or accent) light from behind. Horror movies also have darker lighting characteristics. Soft light can reduce shadows without creating additional shadows. In essence, a larger source is a softer source. A great use of hard light is in The Night of the Hunter. In film, video, and photography, there are two big categories of light: hard light and soft light. Notice how the light is unforgiving and hard and just brutal on her skin. Lighting is used in film to create a certain mood, or an atmosphere. You may have heard the term “quality of light” before, but do you know what that really means and how do you go about finding this highly elusive “good light”so many photographers talk about? Hard light is often much more difficult to work with, due to its contrasty nature. There are also many devices that can be used when your talent is facing towards the sun: diffusion rolls, bed sheets, shower curtains, and silks all do fine. I usually shoot interviews with soft light to present the talent in the most flattering light. You can easily figure out if your light source is hard or soft depending on the shadows. This will also increase the 3D-appearance of the object. Hard light can also work well for background projections. Even an older movie would have used something like spun glass on a large scoop light for a softer fill, so I didn’t feel it was inappropriate to bounce lights off of white board, or occasionally use a 1x1 LED LitePanel next to the lens. The large shadow might also insinuate a sense of strength and power relative to the smaller character on the left. ******************************************************************************. For the X-Files episode, see, Softness/hardness of various light sources, Learn how and when to remove this template message, An explanation of hard and soft light and its usage in photography, http://www.shortcourses.com/tabletop/lighting2-8.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hard_and_soft_light&oldid=984425901, Articles needing additional references from December 2009, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Light travels in waves and softness determines how they are dispersed. Since the light is being dispersed over a broader area, the shadows become softer since more points of contact are … For a light source of infinite area, intensity does not decrease at all. To reiterate the points above in soft light, whether a light is soft or hard will completely come down to the size of the source. Several types of lighting instruments are used in TV to create hard light, including the beam-spot projector and the ellipsoidal spotlight. “hard” versus “soft” lighting 2. what creates each and how to identify them 3. what types of situations to use each type of lig… You can generally tell how soft/hard a light is based on the shadows it creates. In the first days of film, this was done to deal with high contrast, but now it's used by filmmakers to adjust the mood and tone of a scene. And it definitely doesn’t flatter the older generation. Although the sun is a massive star at the center of our solar system, it’s about 93 million miles away from Earth. Light guide films typically have a thickness of 0.05” or more, and are made from polymers such as acrylic or polycarbonate. IL , Soft light use is popular in cinematography and film for a number of different reasons: Hard light sources cast shadows whose appearance of the shadow depends on the lighting instrument. 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