In this video I’ll talk about why I love shooting with hard light and why most people are so afraid of shooting with it!
A majority of photographers only use softlight — and for good reason — softlight is more flattering on your subjects and more forgiving than a hard light source. Softlight sources include modifiers such as umbrellas, softboxes and octaboxes for instance.
Hard light on the other hand can be very tough on the skin and introduce a lot of contrast into your images. This can be completely suitable for what you’re shooting however. Hard light can be perfect for beauty and makeup shots that focus on skin for example. Hard light modifiers include things like Magnum reflectors, bare bulb, and even direct sunlight.
Hard light creates really defined shadows which can be great for creating really dramatic results.
My top 3 reasons for why I favor hard light in the studio are:
👉 Control :
Because hard light has a lot of shadow definition, it gives me a great deal of control and allows me to place a shadow exactly where I want which gives the look of precision, which is exactly what I want for my style of photography.
👉 Creative shadows:
As mentioned above, using hard light allows me to create crisp and precision shadows which can often lead to very creative results that you just can’t emulate using a soft light source. I’ll often use a flag and a gobo to create these crisp lines and shadows across a subject’s face to get even more interesting results.
👉 Vintage, film noir:
I personally love the visuals of vintage images and film noir movies. I find them to be romantic and dramatic and more often than not images from that era are using hard lights. This cinematic look really comes to life when you hard lights.
I challenge you to experiment with hard light sources, whether they be the modifiers mentioned above or even direct sunlight with a flag or gobo. You might be pleasantly surprised with the results.
🔥 For some hard light inspiration I recommend checking out my Creative Studio Lighting guide that has many hard light creative setups for you to choose from and create: https://lindsayadler.photo/creativelighting.
🔥 Lastly, if you’re totally new to studio lighting or even have some experience but feel like you haven’t yet mastered it I recommend checking out my ultra in-depth class called Master Studio Lighting: https://lindsayadler.photo/masterstudiolighting
📸 Some examples of hard light modifiers:
✅ Profoto Zoom Reflector: https://adorama.rfvk.net/JAqEq
✅ Profoto Magnum Reflector: https://adorama.rfvk.net/RoRvN
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Some of the links in this description contain affiliate links to partners.
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