Softening the light

Wow, there sure are a lot of exercises in the chapter on light! In this part I am looking at the effects of softening photographic lighting.

There were many different ways that this could be handled depending on what equipment you have or were prepared to borrow or buy. I am working with off camera flash and shoot through umbrellas which I already have available. For this exercise I have a flash mounted on a light stand with a radio trigger to fire it. The flash is aimed down at the subject within the limit of the umbrella which is preventing a full 'top' down position.

So, here are the two images I took.The top one is with the umbrella softening the light and the bottom one without.

Light being softened by umbrella

Hard, unmodified light.

 I have tried to get the exposure as close as possible on both shots. Lets take a look at the differences.

The first thing that is obvious is the shadow cast on the table. The hard light example has a strong, clearly defined edge. Compare this with the soft edge of the modified light. The second point to observe is the shape and intensity of the bright  highlight on the cat. In the hard light version, there is a fairly intense specular highlight. Note also the transition from highlight to the more natural looking light - it is fairly instant. Now look at the same area on the cat with the modified light. The transition from the specular area is much smoother.

Now this is really important. The cat in the lower picture is very close to losing detail in the highlights. We are actually dealing with five areas of light here. There is the highlight where the light is hitting the cat directly and bouncing straight back. We have the shadow area where no light is hitting the cat. In the middle is a diffused  area where some light is hitting the cat in a neutral sort of way. Between the highlight and the middle area is the 'specular edge transfer' and between the shadow and the middle ground is the 'shadow edge transfer'.

What is happening in the hard light example is that this band of  'light blending' is much more compressed. This is giving us a much harsher and to some extent 'sharper' image.

A final factor with the diffused light source is that it is bigger. This has given us more light 'wrap' around the subject. The result of this is that the darker areas are not actually as dark as the hard light example and is also responsible for the softer shadows. The bigger the light source, the softer the shadows!