How Cinematographers Use Hard Vs Soft Light

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Күн бұрын

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In this video I’ll explain what hard and soft light is and how each can be used in different applications to impact the visual storytelling of a film. Then I’ll go over some film equipment and techniques that are commonly used to alter the quality of the light.
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0:00 Introduction
0:48 Hard Vs. Soft Light
2:18 How Is Soft Light Used?
4:48 How Is Hard Light Used?
6:29 Equipment For Soft Light
10:53 Equipment For Hard Light
11:57 MUBI
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Пікірлер: 41

@ilyacosmonaut Жыл бұрын

In many shots you confuse contrast light and hard light, they are not the same thing. Hard light can easily be low contrast, just as soft light can be contrast.

@germanncoca Жыл бұрын

banco mucho lo que dice este flaco. the best example of soft light with contrast is fight club. or any movie of deakins

@jopvandekam Жыл бұрын

Yes, i noticed the same. Even in the thumbnail, the shadow lines are razor sharp, but there's some fill in the picture on the right.

@THE.N1KO Жыл бұрын

If you have time can you please explain it a little more?

@jopvandekam Жыл бұрын

@@THE.N1KO Quality of light refers to how light transitions from light to dark on a surface. The slower the gradient, the softer the quality of light. It has nothing to do with how light or how dark the areas are, just how sharp the transition is. If you have hard sources, but use a lot of fill (4:1 lighting ratio for example) the contrast is very low, but the light can still be hard.

@nildafromagepapazian1242 Жыл бұрын

Thank you to say this. I was very frustrated because it's a mistake that beginners often do, and this video contributes to confuse them a little bit more.

@JR_Taylor Жыл бұрын

Great video. Its worth noting should u ever update this video that hard and soft light is about the size of the light source relative to the subject. Diffusion materials increases the light source size and thats why its softer.

@michaelbailey9549 Жыл бұрын

3:23 the shadow are crisp on both sides... they both look like harsh light, except the woman looks illumintade from above

@ewilly6293 Жыл бұрын

I think you got it mixed up at 10:13 The closer a bounce, or any diffuse source, is to a subject, the softer it will be. As size increases either literally or relative to the subject (by getting closer), light quality gets softer

@sebastianbermudez4081 Жыл бұрын

Exactly, maybe it has to do with the fact that it'll appear more contrasted the light the closer the bounce and seems there's some sort of confusion in the video for quality of light and contrast

@JR_Taylor Жыл бұрын

I agree. the inverse square rule needs a mention imho.

@64ccd Жыл бұрын

THANK YOU for putting the add at the end. Great video as always.

@ilyacosmonaut Жыл бұрын

Fun fact, on the cover of the of the video the right picture has a harder light than the left image )

@4-dan371 Жыл бұрын

Justo tenía esa duda de las luces y haces un vídeo de eso. Eres el mejor canal sobre fotografía!!

@mobbyboss Жыл бұрын

Just want to say, this is one of my favorite channels.

@lorenzbuhler6114 Жыл бұрын

Great video!! I didn't know it was a thing to light the two protagonists in a different manner, but it sound very interesting! I was wondering if you could start adding the titles and years of publishing to a movie scene if you show it in the videos, that would be great.

@stephenfurry5858 Жыл бұрын

Never heard of Grid Cloth as Half, 1, or 2. I only know them as Full, Light, and Quarter Grids.

@vycter6899 Жыл бұрын

Great video

@lionkingproductions8093 Жыл бұрын

Great video! Quick question, what are the best settings for an 8bit Sony camera

@allanvanuga9196 Жыл бұрын

Great video.

@guywalsh3283 2 ай бұрын

What’s the best way to light a face with a fedora? Would it be to bounce the light from underneath?

@MoonSafariFilms Жыл бұрын

3:20 These are both hard light. The biggest difference in the key is the angle.

@JR_Taylor Жыл бұрын

I agree. The soft focus type effect on the actress might have contributed to the mistake

@Zombiesnyder13 5 ай бұрын

Another difference is that a defusion filter was used on the actress to look bloomy

@szymongoslawski Жыл бұрын

As seen in the comments below there is a lot of mistakes in this video. I propose to consider the size of the light source in relation to the object and its influence on the hardness/softness of the light. Sincerely.

@szymongoslawski Жыл бұрын

apart from that. I love this chanel. Cheers!

@JRTET21 Жыл бұрын

is there a list of movies you showed in this clip?

@jasonkirsch2553 Жыл бұрын

Yea many mistakes here... intensity doesn't determine hardness... size of source relative to subject determines hardness. Can be soft and very contrasty it's just harder to achieve.

@petergivenbless900 Жыл бұрын

I once read Peter Greennaway said that Sacha Vierny could light anything with just a light source and a newspaper!

@redbeardproductions-kevind9806 Жыл бұрын

It's not true that a bounced light is softer if the bounce is farther away. The bounce becomes the new light source, and the farther away a light source is - the harder it is.

@antoinepetrov Жыл бұрын

So can it be said that hard light in cinema is like chiaroscuro in painting? For example, if Caravaggio was a filmmaker, his films would have hard light, and if, for example, Vermeer was also a filmmaker, he would have lit softly?

@UsernameDell Жыл бұрын

Yup