7 Tips for softer looking light

Making Photography Easierwww.DIGITALBeginners.com7tipsforsofterlookinglightBeginners Digital Photography - Tutorial 03BDP03A4 - 010106Tel: 00353 1 620 5156 • Email: info@digitalbeginners.com • www.digitalbeginners.com • All text, photographs and illustrations © David McKane 2006 DBP03 - 7 TIPS FOR SOFTER LOOKING LIGHT 1 of 10Making Photography Easierwww.DIGITALBeginners.com7 tips for softer looking lightnless you are looking for a specific creative effect, soft light is the kind of light that weUshould be looking for in our photographs. When photographing people soft light is kinderon skin and it makes it less blotchy, especially those with Northern European complexions.Soft light is also less likely to show hard reflections on spectacles and other reflectivesurfaces such as metal, gloss paint, skin etc. Strong colours look much more natural withsoft light, colours are less hard and are closer to what they look like in real life.The one thing that professional photographers have over the rest of us is knowledge of theeffects of different kinds of light. They also know how various types of lighting equipment cancause light to be hard (direct flash, bare bulbs) or soft (through a diffuser, reflected offvarious surfaces such as ceilings).The following tips will show you how to get these professional effects using simpletechniques, which assume little or no prior knowledge of how your camera works in differentlighting situations.