{"id":61104,"date":"2015-08-17T11:15:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-17T16:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?p=61104"},"modified":"2015-08-17T11:16:06","modified_gmt":"2015-08-17T16:16:06","slug":"cinematography-tip-how-to-create-soft-diffused-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/cinematography-tip-how-to-create-soft-diffused-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Cinematography Tip: How to Create Soft Diffused Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

Soft light is a fantastic resource for any filmmaker. Let’s\u00a0take a look at ten ways to create soft, diffused light on a film set.<\/h2>\n

Every great cinematographer has a deep understanding of the way light works.<\/strong> Unfortunately, many indie filmmakers focus way too heavily on the gear and not the actual image they’re shooting \u2014 especially when it comes to light. Let’s\u00a0take a closer look at lighting and discover a few ways to create a soft, cinematic look.<\/p>\n

Hard vs. Soft Lighting<\/h3>\n

\"Cinematography
\nThis\u00a0lighting would be considered hard lighting because of the harsh shadows.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

In film, video, and photography, there are two big categories of light: hard light and soft light<\/strong>. You can easily figure out if your light source is hard or soft depending on the shadows. Hard lights will have shadows with very sharp edges, whereas soft light will have shadows with soft edges or no defined edges at all.<\/p>\n

\"Cinematography
\nThis\u00a0is an example of soft lighting. Notice how the shadows are barely\u00a0visible.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The thing that makes a light either soft or hard is\u00a0the relative size of the light source.<\/strong> A small source will be much harsher than a larger source.\u00a0The best example of this is the sky. On a bright and sunny day your shadows will be incredibly sharp because the light source that hits you is (relatively) very small in the sky.<\/p>\n

Now contrast a sunny day with an overcast day. On an\u00a0overcast day, you no longer have a strong single point in the sky hitting your subject, rather the light is diffused across the entire sky. The result is incredibly soft shadows.<\/p>\n

\"Cinematography<\/p>\n

Why Soft Lighting Rules<\/h3>\n

One type of light source is not better than the other. Both hard and soft lights have their own storytelling purposes\u00a0in both film and photography. That being said, soft light is much easier to work with than hard light.<\/strong> This is for a number of reasons.<\/p>\n

First, soft light doesn’t draw attention to shadows as much as hard light. By nature, our eyes\u00a0are drawn to points of high contrast<\/a>.\u00a0If you’re using hard lights, your viewer’s eyes may be focusing on other points in the frame other than your subject. Soft light helps make your subject look as good as possible by minimizing wrinkles and blemishes, which is incredibly important for commercials and corporate videos.<\/p>\n

When shooting with hard light, it’s not uncommon to have to have your subject\u00a0stay in a very particular place. But when shooting on soft lighting, you typically have more freedom for your subject to move around the frame.<\/p>\n

Diffusion Techniques<\/h3>\n

In a nutshell, diffusion changes the relative size of a light source.<\/strong> For example, if we were to place a white sheet between your subject and a floodlight, we would get much softer shadows than if we simply hit the subject directly with the floodlight.<\/p>\n

It’s important to emphasize the word relative size<\/em> here.\u00a0While a softbox may produce soft shadows on a human when 5 ft away, it will likely produce sharp shadows on a car. In ideal soft lighting scenarios there’s a direct relationship between the size of your subject and the recommended size of your source light.\u00a0<\/strong>As your subject gets bigger, so should the size of your light source (if you want soft shadows).<\/p>\n

Let’s break down a few ways to get softer light on set.<\/p>\n

1. Diffusion Paper<\/h3>\n

\"Cinematography
\nDiffusion paper\u00a0is a great option if you want to soften your lighting up just a bit.<\/strong> The “paper” is usually clamped to the barn doors of a light. The result isn’t dramatic, but it is subtle enough if you’re trying to soften up\u00a0the overall look.\u00a0Some people use wax paper instead of diffusion paper to get the same effect. While this may work with LED lights, you shouldn’t use wax paper on a tungsten light as the\u00a0paper can catch fire<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Price:<\/strong> $12<\/a><\/p>\n

Diffusion Paper Tutorial<\/strong><\/p>\n

This cinematography tutorial by\u00a0Tom Antos<\/a> shows us\u00a0how he uses diffusion paper when lighting a scene.<\/p>\n