Soft vs Hard Light

I ended my last column by stating that there exists a double standard between the photography of men and women. I am surely not a believer in the adage 'that women age as men develop character'. Quite to the contrary, I believe that women are like fine wine, becoming more magnificent as they age. I need only submit into evidence these images I made of Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren as they turned sixtyish.

I do, however, believe that the photography of women should be handled differently than the photography of men. I like to bring out a crisp reality in my portraits of men while making my women look soft, glamorous and often 'untouchable'.

This column is about pure pragmatics; so let's get down to specific examples.

The first book I ever published in 1986 was a handwritten compilation of notes and drawings over my first 20 years in photography. It was/is called Gary Bernstein's Journal, and in fact, was never given to a publisher. I sold it myself at my lectures. Here is one of the first topics:

Hard light comes from a point-source, meaning a small light source relative to the subject. It creates hard shadows and extreme contrast between highlight and shadow. Softer light comes from larger light sources or diffused light sources. Imagine the sun on a clear day. It produces very hard, dark shadows and maximum contrast. As soon as a cloud covers the sun, the light becomes soft and diffused; contrast is lessened; there is detail in the shadows. This is true regardless of whether you are shooting film or digital.

The illustration above points out that by putting a diffuser in front of a hard light source the light can be softened. There are, however, other avenues at your disposal for creating soft light, such as umbrellas, bouncing light into a wall, and of course the use of reflectors. Let's look at some examples of soft lighting—so perfect for women of all ages.

This headshot was made with a single light in the studio against a piece of white paper. You can do the same thing in a home. White walls to either side of the subject help to soften the light. However the real key to the beauty of this shot is the 2-foot silvered reflector I placed in front of the subject just below the bottom of the composition (that is very apparent in her eyes).

The reflector fills in the shadows, gives that beautiful glow to the face, and adds the secondary 'catchlights” to the eyes that is often the difference between a snapshot and a professional looking portrait. Want the best reflector kit on the market? Here comes a blatant advertisement. Get the one I designed for Chimera. There is nothing better (www.chimeralighting.com). The photograph was taken with a Nikon and a short telephoto. I got mine at www.samys.com right in my neighborhood. That's where I get my white seamless rolls of paper as well. For the home, you should buy half rolls that can stand up in a closet.

In the next photograph, natural open shade lighting was used (hence the slightly blue cast, which I happen to like for this shot). The subject was standing in a hallway surrounded by open glass that allowed the light to strike her face from a high 45-degree angle (so important for proper facial modeling). I filled and directed light to the front of the shot with (you guessed it) a silver reflector on a stand (which is providing a very nice highlight in the glass as well). The shot was made with a short telephoto at a wide aperture to throw the background into soft focus.

In each of the above photographs, notice that hands look best when you photograph them from the sides — specially with women it give length and grace to the hand.

Let's look at some hard light situations— I use it quite often for photographs of men. Ok, now I've done it. Here comes the beer and cigarettes!

The first photograph was made with a single light. By the way, when I say 'light', that means the shot can be made with window light, daylight, a strobe, a household lamp, even a candle, if you handle the situation properly. In this case I used a single strobe (on a stand) placed at a 45-degree angle above the subject's eyes and positioned behind the plane of the subject's face. This is classic profile lighting—the light striking the forehead, the edge of the nose, the cheek and the eye.

The black background does the opposite of the white and light surfaces we used for the photographs of the ladies. The black surface kills reflection and brings out greater drama and contrast in the image. So if the one light source is behind the subject, how did we get detail on the subject's face? Ah yes, the reflector on a stand, placed between the subject and camera position. In the old film days, we truly had to guess as to the amount of reflection to add. Now with digital, it is easy: point, shoot, take a look, and modify as needed.

You just can't use the above lighting setup with a female subject (I know, never say never). The main light in this case is what is striking the subject's sleeve— coming up from below the face — a dangerous lighting situation at best. But it works here. There is a second light coming from camera left behind the subject, edging his hair with light to separate him from them black background. The photo was made with a standard lens on a 35mm camera.

Next column, we'll talk about backgrounds that create impact in your photographs.