Crisp

Same stuff different day. Same church different pew. It’s easy to be lazy, just do the same thing we always do. No paying attention required. So, how shall we light this thing infront of the camera today? I know, we’ll use a big soft box, for big soft light. Same ol’ same ol’. What’s wrong with soft? What’s wrong with soft and bright. That always works — right?

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes.Marcel Proust

Please don’t misinterpret this as bashing all soft light. We love big soft light as much as the next guys but it’s not always the only way to go. Hard light can be absolutely gorgeous and possibly when done well with the right subject quite stunningly beautiful. Hard light, like the sun, picks out every detail and makes every highligh glisten. Above is quite hard light used in it’s simplest fashion. The one and only light on our primary subject is a very hard but very beautiful Profoto Magnum relfector use very close. The other lights are only showing background seperation and that gradient.

Yes it picks up detail you many not want but even SOOC this is an easy retouch if one decides on less detail. Keep in mind that there is no fill so every shadow cast by the Profoto Magnum is essentially black giving the highest contrast possible. Hard light does not come in only one flavor but infinite variations of shadow edge spread and shadow contrast with the added benefit of exacting control over both of those factors. Take a look at the $12 dress on the home page. That’s even a harder light, almost a point source like the sun, just produced in studio. The difference is that while the shadow edge is harder and sharper, the shadow contrast is much lower via fill.