What is hard and soft light?
Hard light is a beam pointed directly at the subject. It creates harsh, dramatic shadows. Citizen Kane shows the use of hard light at its most dramatic. A sunny day also demonstrates hard light; the beam of the sun falls directly on you, casting shadows. Soft Light is a beam that is either diffused by material (such as cloth or clouds) or indirect light, such as a torchiere light pointed at the ceiling. This creates a glow that doesn’t seem to come from any specific point. Very few to no shadows are produced by it. Generally, hard light is dramatic and creates exciting three-dimensional effects, but makes the subject look bad. Soft light creates flat and boring images, but makes the subject look good. So for the best mix of interesting and flattering light, we turn to the time-honoured mixture of three point lighting, as described in the next section.
