What's the difference between hard and soft light?

By Ilex
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If there’s no light, there can be no photography; but what is light, exactly? Without going knee-deep into physics, light can be thought of as tiny particles that move very, very fast. Understanding light is vital to your understanding of photography. The more you know how it behaves, the better you can manipulate it to create photos. To start, we’re going to learn to identify ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ light, terms you’ll often hear photographers reference.

Hard soft light iv

Hard light

There are many different ways to describe light, but one of the most important considerations is the ‘hardness’ of light. How ‘hard’ light is depends mostly on the size of the light source.
A small light source—like a bare light bulb, a flash, or, in relative terms, the sun in the sky—gives hard light, resulting in harsh shadows.

In direct sunlight, you get hard light and hard shadows. Half the face and body of this skateboarder disappears in dark shadows, and the skateboard’s shadow is also very dark and clearly defined.
In direct sunlight, you get hard light and hard shadows. Half the face and body of this skateboarder disappears in dark shadows, and the skateboard’s shadow is also very dark and clearly defined.

Soft light

A large light source—such as light reflected off a large surface for example a ceiling, or the sun diffused by a layer of clouds—does the opposite: the light will be ‘soft,’ and the resulting shadows will be much softer as well.

Taken just before a heavy rainfall at around noon under a thick layer of clouds, the light in this image is so soft and diffused that you can’t really see any shadow cast by the bike at all.
Taken just before a heavy rainfall at around noon under a thick layer of clouds, the light in this image is so soft and diffused that you can’t really see any shadow cast by the bike at all.

Which is preferable?

The hardness or softness of light is important in many genres of photography, but people, in particular, tend to look better in softer light. In effect, that means that if someone is standing in direct sunlight, your photos rarely come out well.

Photos taken on an overcast day, have a soft look—no harsh shadows, just lots of beautiful light and subtle colours.
Photos taken on an overcast day, have a soft look—no harsh shadows, just lots of beautiful light and subtle colours.

There are a few ways around this conundrum: you can add more light (by using fill flash, or reflect some light back onto the subject); you can move your subject out of the sun into the shade; or you can try to soften the light somehow. If you’re outside, placing someone in the shade of a tree, which will diffuse the light, is an excellent option.
In The Ilex Introduction to Photography, Haje Jan Kamps guides you through the process of turning your everyday snapshots into great pictures that you can be proud of. It doesn’t matter if you shoot with a smartphone or a top-of-the-range dSLR, this book has everything in it that you need to know!
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