I always teach my students that the light is the most important component of a good photo. Â This always begs the question, “What makes good lighting?” Â Generally, photographers say that good light is soft light. Â That's often true, and if you want soft light, I wrote an article on how to achieve soft light.
Unfortunately, many photographers fall into the trap of thinking that the only good light is soft light. Â This is simply not true, and I want to bust that myth by showing you seven creative ways to use hard light in your portrait photography.
Hard Light Photography Tip #1. Use the shadows cast by your subject to create a stand-alone portrait. Â This tip works especially well when photographing kids. Â Since kids are shorter and lower to the ground, the shadow is shorter, which makes a more clear and definite shape. Â To apply this tip in your photography, keep in mind that the time of day is especially important. Â Usually I like to shoot shadows two hours after sunrise or two hours before sunset. Â At noon, the shadows are directly under the subject and at sunrise and sunset the shadows are not well-defined. Â Shooting two hours after sunrise or before sunset seems to be the optimal time for this type of shot.
Hard Light Photography Tip #2: Let the hard light pass through an object to create interesting lighting patterns on your subject. Â Photographers call this a “gobo” because the technique involves an object that GOes Between the light and the subject. Â When using an interesting light pattern for a gobo, hard light is best because it will make a more clear and sharp outline of the pattern.
Hard Light Photography Tip #3: Use hard light to show off texture in a person's skin. Â You'll remember from our post on texture that the best way to show off texture in a photo is to use light that comes from the side, rather than straight on. Â The photo below is an example of effective use of hard light to show texture on skin.
Hard Light Photography Tip #4: Â Use hard light to cast heavy shadows, which will create an ominous and dramatic look to any photo.
Hard Light Photography Tip #5: Show the wireless strobe in your photo to create a beautiful light burst.
Hard Light Photography Tip #6: Use hard light as a backlit rim light to make your subjects pop off the background.  This can easily be accomplished with a small strobe wirelessly triggered from behind the subject.  The photo featured at the top of this page is an example of this technique.  I simply put a cheap speedlight on a light stand behind the woman's face and fired it wirelessly with a $20 flash trigger.  For more on wireless flash, go to this page.
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Definitely love the first photo, the one at the top of the post. Really nice.