Theory Notes: Lighting Assignment Part 1

Soft Lighting

This picture right here is an example of soft lighting. Soft lighting can be thought of as sun on an overcast day. Where the light is not sharp and hard as it would be on a very sunny and bright day. Soft lighting is also less obvious in the way that it usually would spread all over the picture, and would not focus on just an edge or corner of a picture. Soft lighting is also considered to be "wrapped" around the picture. If a picture as soft light it also reduces the shadows on the picture.

Hard Lighting

Hard lighting comes from only one source. That is why it is many times it is compared to a proper sunny day, because you get the light shinning directly from one place to the person/object. Hard Light can often create a lot more shadows than soft light, and it also makes the picture seem more dramatic. Light has a lot to do with picture taking in general, and it all depends on the affect that a person wants to create. If a person uses the hard light, the person that is being photographed will probably look a lot more angry, or man, because of the way the light is placed on their face.

Three-point Lighting

A standard method used in visual media such as video, film, still photography and computer-generated imagery. By using three separate positions, the photographer can illuminate the shot's subject (such as a person) however desired, while also controlling (or eliminating entirely) the shading and shadows produced by direct lighting.

The key light, as the name suggests, shines directly upon the subject and serves as its principal illuminator; more than anything else, the strength, color and angle of the key determines the shot's overall lighting design.

In outdoor daytime shots, the Sun often serves as the key light. In this case, of course, the photographer cannot set the light in the exact position he or she wants, so instead arranges the subjects to best capture the sunlight, perhaps after waiting for the sun to position itself just right.

The fill light also shines on the subject, but from a side angle relative to the key and is often placed at a lower position than the key (about at the level of the subject's face). It balances the key by illuminating shaded surfaces, and lessening or eliminating chiaroscuro effects, such as the shadow cast by a person's nose upon the rest of the face. It is usually softer and less bright than the key light (up to half), and more to a flood. Not using a fill at all can result in stark contrasts (due to shadows) across the subject's surface, depending upon the key light's harshness.

The back light shines on the subject from behind, often (but not necessarily) to one side or the other. It gives the subject a rim of light, serving to separate the subject from the background and highlighting contours.