Most filmmakers choose to illuminate their actors with soft lighting because it’s very forgiving, easy to use, and generally the most pleasing to the eye. But lighting everything with lots of diffusion isn’t the only way, sometimes a bright light will give you better results.
Like most other art forms, filmmaking has cycles. Certain looks, styles, editorial choices, and other techniques come and go, but soft lighting has definitely been “in” since the late 60s/early 70s. Prior to this, hard light was much more standardized and was used in countless feature films during the Golden Age of Hollywood.
In the early days of film, lighting was handled very differently than it is today—probably because of the role physical studios used to play in the filmmaking process. Obviously, many movies and TV shows are still shot in studios, but more productions than ever are shot on location, so the entire lighting setup needs to be approached differently. In the heyday of studio movies, bright lights were mounted on a grid high above the actors, shining down to fill specific areas of the stage that fell right on the actors’ marks. Light quality was very difficult as the lighting was very “jagged” and very far away… but it worked.
For years, it’s been the go-to choice for filmmakers around the world. But like everything else, it eventually became obsolete.
By the 1970s, different trends in filmmaking styles, techniques, and other factors led to dramatic changes in cinematography, with soft lighting completely taking over. Huge soft films began to replace small hard films, and the image of Old Hollywood soon disappeared. But just as soft light had its place in the old days of Hollywood (even before it became popular), hard light still has its place in today’s movie theaters.
Some of the best movies and TV shows have the perfect mix of hard and soft light, like mixing handheld shots with Steadicam shots. For example, a show like Breaking Bad is able to utilize hard lighting in many sequences to create a film-noir look, while still reverting to soft lighting as needed for other scenes. By utilizing these two creative choices, the storyteller ultimately creates a very dynamic visual world that guides the audience from one scene to the next.
Having said that, my point is that knowing how to use hard lighting is just as important as knowing how to take advantage of soft lighting. You may not need to use hard sources as often as soft sources, but when you do want to change the look, you’ll want to know how to do it correctly.
Whether you’re aiming for a film noir-type shoot or just want to brighten a scene or two in your movie to create mood, here are three tips for you:
1. Use less lights
Depending on the scene you’re shooting, you may only need one light source to achieve the look you want. In fact, using fewer lights will make your life easier when it comes to bright lighting. Working with bright light can be more challenging based solely on the quality of the light. The soft light setting will be very forgiving, so you’ll have more wiggle room when it comes to placing your fill light in the exact position relative to the keys. When using a hard lighting setup, you have to be more specific about where you place your lights, as shadows quickly start to look bad (more on that below).
The reality of hard lighting is that it usually works best with just one light. A single light setup will allow you to create hard, defined shadows on your talent without having to contend with fill light, which will of course reduce those shadows. Using a backlight is an exception to this rule, as it will only help you separate the talent from the background and theoretically won’t affect the appearance of the key light. The same logic may apply to background lighting, depending on where your talent is placed.
Here’s an example I shot yesterday, with a bright light pointed directly at the actor:
My setup (which is a bare Lowell tower lamp) is in our other photos:
2. Don’t be afraid of shadows
Probably the biggest problem filmmakers encounter when trying to shoot with bright light is shadows. Many filmmakers make the mistake of trying to treat hard light settings as soft light, and it can be difficult to accept the idea that it’s perfectly okay to have harsh shadows in the frame. In fact, shadows are what define the look of a hard light setting, so if you’re trying to eliminate them or over-control them, you probably shouldn’t be using hard lights in the first place.
You need to remember that the shadow is your friend. Once you stop trying to fight them and start looking for ways to work with them creatively, a lot of possibilities open up. You may want to light your talents from low to create a large shadow on the wall, or place them close to the wall to get a very small but defined shadow behind them to give the scene a Lots of edges. If for some reason you really don’t want any shadows showing in a particular shot, just move your actors further away from the background (or wall), light them from a wider angle, and shoot them from the opposite side . This will effectively hide shadows outside of the frame and still bring a hard light quality to your actor’s face.
3. Control leaks
If you’re lighting multiple characters or a relatively large environment, controlling the spill of your lights will be absolutely crucial. Imagine you need to light a scene in a warehouse where two characters are 15 feet apart from each other. You can start by setting a key light for your protagonist, which will probably look pretty good right away. But when you get into your supporting cast, you realize the key to the main character is not giving him/her enough exposure. Of course, you’ll need to add a separate key light for the actor, but this will interfere with the spill of the original key light and leave you with some weird-looking shadows.
As I mentioned in the first point, sometimes using a single light is best for a hard lighting setup. That said, when you need to use two or more lights, be sure to control spillage as much as possible. In the scene I’ve outlined here, you can start by simply marking the strong light source on your protagonist to make sure it doesn’t hit your supporting character at all. From there, the second source you add will have its own defined shadow, and you can easily avoid the double-shadow effect that looks terrible on camera.
Once you’ve mastered the basics of controlling bright light, you can really start having fun. Hard light is very malleable (unlike soft light), which means you can use flags, blinds, and other objects to create really interesting looks for your talent or background.
final thoughts
In my opinion, working at a high level as a visual filmmaker means you know how to craft lighting setups for any possible mood. While most scenes require soft light (because it’s more forgiving and flatters the actor’s face), there’s definitely a time and place for hard light. Whether you need to light your entire film this way or just a single insert shot, it’s important to understand the differences in the qualities of hard and soft light and how to use each one.
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