You may have heard the term quality of light in photography before, but do you know what that really means and how do you go about finding the highly elusive good light so many photographers talk about?
TL/DR: Quality of light in photography is defined by the size of the light source relative to your subject. Small sources (sun, bare bulb, on-camera flash) produce hard light with strong shadows and high contrast. Large sources (overcast sky, softbox, large reflector, bounced flash) produce soft light with weak or no shadows. Use hard light for drama and texture; use soft light for flattery and mood. The only way to soften a light source is to make it larger.
In this article, I’m going to explain a few terms and give you some tips on how to find the right light including:
- Hard versus soft lighting
- What situation creates each kind of lighting and how to identify them
- When to use each type of lighting
- How to find good light at any time of the day
Quantity of light is how much light is present in a given scene. But what is the quality of light?
As in most things, quantity is how much or how many, and quality is how good it is. So how do you measure whether the light is good or not?
What that means in real terms is that a small light source will produce hard lighting.
If you have a large light source the light will be soft, however, it is also affected by the distance of the light source to the subject. If it is close to the subject, it is proportionally large compared to their face. But if you move it back away from the subject quite a distance then it changes the relative size of the light.
What’s the difference between hard and soft light?
Hard light comes from a small apparent source. The sun, a bare lightbulb, a candle, a bare camera flash. It produces sharp shadows, high contrast, and often makes subjects squint. Soft light comes from a large apparent source. An overcast sky, a softbox, a north-facing window, a sunlit wall bouncing light back. It produces gradual or invisible shadows and low contrast. The only variable that matters is the size of the source from your subject’s point of view.
Is the sun a hard or soft light source?
Hard. The sun is a giant burning ball of fire approximately 1.4 million kilometres (864,000 miles) in diameter. That’s large! However, when we look at it from here it appears very small in the sky (size of a quarter) because of our relative distance from the sun.
So the sun is actually a small light source. Does that make sense?
What is hard light in photography?
Hard lighting is created by small light sources such as:
- The sun (as you learned above it is a small light source)
- A bare lightbulb
- A candle
- A flashlight
- The small flash on your camera (yes even if you take if off the camera the flash itself without any modifiers is a small light source).
Hard light is characterized by strong, well-defined shadows and a high degree of contrast. With hard light, you will notice deep, dark shadows, and bright, sometimes overblown highlights or whites.
People photographed in hard light will often squint and have harsh unflattering shadows on their faces. This is not usually desirable.
Hard lighting – look for strong shadows and high contrast
What is soft light in photography?
Soft lighting is creating by large light sources such as:
- The sky on an overcast or on a really cloudy day (then the sun isn’t the light source anymore it’s the entire sky which is much larger proportionally from where we stand).
- Large studio lights like softboxes (hence the name!) used by portrait and studio photographers.
- A large white reflector used to bounce light (a 42″ one is a large light source when placed close to the subject).
- Light from a small speedlight or flash bounced off of a wall, ceiling, reflector, or through an umbrella (only when you bounce or diffuse the light from your speedlight does it become softer).
- Window-light from a north-facing window or one which does not receive direct sunlight.
- Light from an open sky such as when the subject is in a doorway or covered area (out of the sun) and the light comes from the sky opposite the sun.
Soft light is the opposite of hard light and is characterized by soft or not easily defined shadows, and low contrast.
In soft light, you may not even be able to distinguish where the shadows fall or if there are any. People photographed in soft light have fewer and/or softer shadows and do not have to squint.
Soft light – look for weak or no shadows and low contrast
Before we get to which kind of light to use when, here’s a side-by-side that pulls the two definitions together. Same principle running underneath both columns: the size of the source relative to your subject is what sets the quality of the light. Everything else in the column follows from that one variable.
| Dimension | Hard light | Soft light |
|---|---|---|
| Source size (relative to subject) | Small | Large |
| Example sources | Sun, bare bulb, candle, flashlight, bare camera flash | Overcast sky, softbox, large reflector, bounced flash, north-facing window, open sky |
| Shadow character | Strong, well-defined, sharp edges | Soft, gradual, sometimes hard to detect |
| Contrast | High | Low |
| Subjects squint? | Often | Rarely |
| Best for | Drama, character, texture, weathered subjects | Portraits, group photos, flattering mood |
| Risk | Unflattering shadows on faces, deep clipping in shadows, clipped highlights | Flat-looking images, dark eyes under brows if direction is wrong |
When should you use hard vs soft light?
The answer to which type of lighting to use is that there is no right or wrong, and it depends on what look you want to create within your image.
If you want more drama and to emphasize character and texture, then you will want to use hard lighting.
If you want to emphasize a softer mood or flatter a portrait subject you will want to use soft lighting.
Here are some examples. Can you see which type of lighting is being used in each image and if it is appropriate for the scene and the desired result?
What’s the best quality of light for portraits?
Soft light, in most cases. Soft light flatters skin by minimizing wrinkles, pores, blemishes, and any kind of texture you’d rather not emphasize. The easiest soft-light sources are overcast skies, north-facing windows, open shade beside a building, and sunlit walls used as bounced sources. Hard light is the right choice when you want to emphasize character or texture: a weathered face with character lines, a band wanting an edgy promo shot, a fashion editorial built around drama.
Hard light will accentuate everything by adding contrast. That means wrinkles, lines, pores, blemishes, scars, bumps, etc. all the things that most people do not want to be enhanced, will be emphasized.
Your spouse or significant other would probably prefer not to showcase those things. So if you are photographing a friend or spouse, and you want them to continue to like you, then consider soft lighting.
However, if you are photographing a grizzled old man and want to emphasize his wrinkles, then hard light would be desired. For any subject where you want to add character and drama, then hard light is a better choice. Punk rockers with a skateboard – then try using hard lighting.
You can find soft light by getting out of the sun and into the shade, an open doorway (using the light coming in), or by using something to block the sun or harsh lighting (reflector). Many photographers do portraits in the magic or golden hours (about 60 minutes before dusk or after sunrise) as the light is low on the horizon and is much warmer and softer.
Here are a few more examples.
How do you find good light at any time of the day?
Good light is not a clock. It is three variables you can read in any minute of any day: direction (where do the shadows fall on your subject?), quality (is the apparent source small and hard, or large and soft?), and colour (cool early, warm at golden hour, neutral overhead at midday, cool again at twilight). Read those three and the time of day becomes a tool, not a problem.
Read three things before you press the shutter
Whatever the time of day, run a quick check on your subject before you frame the shot:
- Direction. Where are the brightest spots on the face? Where do the shadows fall? Side light builds dimension. Direct front light flattens. Light from above creates dark eye sockets.
- Quality. Is your subject squinting? That’s a hard-light tell. Are the shadow edges sharp, or do they fade gradually? Sharp means a small apparent source. Gradual means a large one.
- Colour. Set your white balance to the Daylight preset and look at the cast on a neutral wall. Blue early. Warm late. Neutral midday under direct sun.
Once you can read those three on the fly, here is a move that solves more bad-light problems than any reflector you’ll ever buy. If the background behind your subject is brighter than your subject’s face, turn 180 degrees. That bright thing, the wall or the window or the sky over the rooftops, is now in front of them, lighting them. It went from being your problem to being your light source. Same scene. Different shot.
Golden hour, sunrise and just before sunset
Roughly the hour before sunset, or the hour right after sunrise. The way to spot it without checking your phone is to look at the ground. Long shadows stretching out in front of you mean the sun is very low on the horizon.
Why it works: when the sun is low, its light passes through more atmosphere, which diffuses it. The angle on faces is flattering instead of overhead. As the sun gets closer to the horizon there’s a haze in the air, and the diffusion gets stronger.
The trick most photographers miss is the pacing. Pose your subject when you first arrive, take a test shot, and then wait. The last 10 minutes before the sun hits the horizon are usually the prettiest of the day. The moment the sun dips behind a building or a treeline, the light goes from beautiful to stunning. If you can pair that softer light with a white reflector to lift any leftover shadow, or a gold reflector for warm hair light, you can keep shooting until the last useful minute.
Sunset silhouettes, the bonus shot you didn’t plan
Once the sun is gone but the sky is still bright, you have a free silhouette setup that needs no extra gear:
- Put your subject between you and the brightest part of the sky.
- Get low. Raise your subject if you can. A low wall or a bench works. This kills the horizon line and leaves pure sky behind them.
- Expose for the sky, not your subject. Check your histogram and pull exposure down until you have no highlight warnings.
- Watch for outline overlap. If two people merge into one black blob, separate them more than feels natural. A kiss profile or a raised foot reads instantly.
Blue hour, the window most photographers miss
Right after sunset, the sky is still blue and the street lights are on. This is the best 20 minutes of the day for cityscapes, lit shop windows, mixed-light street scenes, and architecture. The lights come on, the sky is still blue not black, and it’s the kind of shot most photographers miss because they’ve already gone home or called it quits for the day and are doing something silly like eating dinner.
Midday, work with what you’ve got
The conventional advice is to skip midday. For architecture and texture work that’s wrong. Strong overhead light brings out raised columns, weathered brick, sand patterns, anything where shadow IS the subject.
For portraits at midday, the first rule is get out of the sun. Even in full sun there is shade somewhere. Find a building, a large tree, or a bank of trees and your problem is mostly solved.
Five things to do once you’re out of the direct sun:
- Use open shade. A doorway, an alley, the north side of a building. The sky becomes your soft source.
- Find a tree overhang next to a sunlit building. The tree blocks the overhead sun. A sunlit white wall across the street becomes a giant softbox, a 10-story softbox, lighting your subject from the side. This is the move for midday family portraits.
- Use a translucent diffuser between sun and subject. A 5-in-1 reflector unfolds to expose a translucent panel. Have someone hold it overhead between the sun and the face.
- Use a reflector to fill the shadows. A white 5-in-1 panel works. So does a $5 piece of foam board from the art store. If it bounces light, it’s a reflector.
- Embrace the hard light for character work. A weathered face, a band, fashion drama. The shadow IS the point. (Same principle as the hard-light section earlier in this article: texture and contrast are features when you choose them on purpose.)
One more thing to watch for in open shade. Deep-set eye sockets. Some subjects, often men with prominent brow ridges, lose their catchlights even in good shade and the eyes go dead. Move them so they catch a slice of open sky in their eyes and they come back to life.
Overcast, your soft-light cheat code
When clouds cover the sun, the entire sky becomes the effective light source. That is the biggest softbox you will ever own. Soft, diffused, even, low contrast. This is the easiest light in photography for groups, portraits, and anyone you want to flatter.
The one thing to watch: a featureless white sky reads as a hole in the picture. Compose so the sky stays out of frame, or crop it out later.
Rain, snow, fog, don’t go home
Bad weather creates the rare images everyone else missed because they packed up. Rain on water, fog softening a treeline, snow flattening contrast. All of these are native to the light those conditions create. Cover your gear and go out anyway. Think “different” and that will help you achieve “better.”
Indoors, let the window do the work
The first question on any indoor location is the same as the first question outdoors: where is the light coming from?
- North-facing windows are the cleanest natural-light tool indoors. No direct sun, soft, directional, usable all day.
- East-facing windows in the afternoon and west-facing windows in the morning do the same thing.
- South-facing windows in direct sun need a sheer curtain. The curtain becomes the diffuser. The window becomes the new, larger light source. (Same principle as the hard-vs-soft section earlier: enlarging the source is what softens it.)
- Indoor light is dim. Treat it like shooting in shade. Tripod up, slower shutter, ISO up if you need to.
- Use a lens hood to kill flare from windows behind your subject.
- Bouncing flash off the ceiling or a side wall turns the entire room into a softbox.
A small test that proves all of this to yourself
Pick one subject close to home. Your front door, a tree in the back yard, a flower pot. Shoot it from the exact same angle, with the same lens, the same Daylight white balance, every hour you can. If you can’t get them all in one day, spread them across a few days and tick off the hours as you go.
Compare them side by side at the end. Watch three things: the direction of the shadow, the softness of the shadow, the colour tint of the scene. That one exercise will teach you more about time of day than any book.
A note before you choose
There is no right or wrong here. Hard or soft, midday or golden hour, indoors or out. It depends on the look you want.
But if a scene isn’t working (the background is too bright, the direction of light is wrong, the shadows are landing badly), don’t be afraid to tell your subject, “You know what? This isn’t working. I think it will look better and flatter you more if we move over here.” They’ll thank you for it in the end.
FAQs
What are the 4 qualities of light in photography?
For the working photographer, light has four properties to read at every shoot.
Direction: where do the shadows fall on your subject?
Quality: is the apparent source small (hard light) or large (soft light) from your subject’s point of view?
Colour: cool early and late, warm at golden hour, neutral midday under direct sun.
Intensity: how much light is hitting the scene. Read those four and you can predict the look before you press the shutter.
What are the 4 C’s of lighting?
The 4 C’s framework comes from lighting design and cinematography. It usually stands for Colour, Contrast, Composition, and Control. For still photography, the working equivalent is the three properties of light: direction, quality, and colour. Read those three on your subject before you press the shutter, and the technical decisions that follow (exposure, white balance, modifiers, where to position yourself) all flow from what you see.
How do I improve the quality of light in my photos?
Start by reading what’s already there. If your subject is squinting and the shadows are sharp, you have hard light. If your subject’s face is evenly lit and you can’t tell where the shadows fall, you have soft light. To soften hard light, make the source larger from your subject’s point of view: move them into open shade, hold a translucent diffuser between sun and subject, or bounce flash off a wall or ceiling. To add direction to flat soft light, move your subject closer to an edge (a doorway, the side of a building) so the light comes from one side instead of straight above.
Take it further
If you’ve made it this far, you now have the framework to read any light in any scene. Direction, quality, colour. You know hard light from soft, and you know that the only thing that actually softens light is making the source larger from your subject’s point of view. That’s the principle. The rest is practice.
If you want to go deeper on natural light specifically (window light, golden hour, outdoor portraits, working around the sun instead of fighting it), my Portrait Fundamentals: Using Natural Light course walks through every situation a portrait photographer runs into outside the studio. Setups, demonstrations, real-world fixes, the same teaching I’d give a student standing next to me on a shoot.
Take the Portrait Fundamentals: Using Natural Light course →
And if you want a structured exercise for working in harsh midday light, this monthly challenge gives you one: Create Good Images at Midday Photography Challenge.
Cheers,
