The Prettiest Way to Light | Soft Lighting 101

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Ever wonder why Ted looks so beautiful on camera? Besides his devilishly handsome good looks, a lot of the answer is in soft lighting! Soft lighting is the "pretty" way to light a scene or subject, but it has many more uses in the world of film & photography!

In today's episode of Ask Aputure, Ted from the A-Team takes us through soft lighting, how you make a light soft, and when you would use soft lighting.

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[aputurelighting]

What's your favorite way to use soft lighting?

[JonnyCastle]

As a singer-songwriter, my favorite use of soft lighting is in music videos. Thanks for the videos, I'm learning alot!

[Luckylukeproduction]

My favorite use of soft lighting is interviews. The reason is because it gives a clear easy focus of the person who is talking. Thank you and continue making great

[westinkriser]

There's nothing more pleasing than combining a nice soft light, that emulates natural light, with a hard edge/top light. This technique will instantly up your production value, and give you the extremely desired "film look." The best thing about this is that you can do it for dirt cheap! You can literally film at/near sunset, backlight your subject, and use a soft (white) bounce to reflect light onto your subject. A perfect example of this is the "How to light outdoor exteriors" video by Film Riot. Loving all the knowledge you guys continue to share:) Thanks A Team!

[tonygarcia]

My favorite use of soft lighting is for creating subtle psychological shifts in character arcs, mood, theme or feeling. By that I mean, if shooting a RomCom when the characters meet are in that awkward courtship period then I've lit harsher lights/shadows, punchier contrast and more specular catch lights in the eyes. And as the couples relationship grow the light becomes softer, wrappier (if that's a word) and the sources and catchlights become larger. Think Jerry Maguire. Great episode that really took me back to the film school days and the power of light and color in a movie! Keep it up!!!

[GregVorobiov]

Great info! I like to use my Aputure 120D bounced up into the corner where white ceilings and walls meet. This creates a large soft wrapping bounce that can be used two ways: 1. Place your subject between your camera and the bounced corner/ceiling for a soft ethereal backlight (play with subject distance from the corner), consider adding a reflector in front of your subject for additional bounced fill if needed. Or option 2. Place your camera with the corner/ceiling bounce wall behind you and have subject facing the camera looking into the bounced corner/ceiling light. This gives a glowing gentle fill, and then consider adding a reflector to create a rim or kicker light. I'm always looking at my shooting locations to play with bouncing light!

[SupeOG]

Super useful, thanks guys!
My personal favourite use of soft lighting is actually outside. Misty days diffuse sunlight so nicely which makes the skin look really clean, and also adds a lot of depth to the background

[nicolevalencia]

my favorite use of soft lighting is for tonal purposes, to give the image a melancholy, nostalgic note, to communicate something that has been nearly forgotten, lost, left behind. i find myself always gravitating towards it when shooting photos and trying to recreate it (which is why i watched this video!!!) #hopeiwin #needlightinggear xo

[ClassicalAcademicPress]

My favorite is a softbox interview with a warm colored bounce board for fill. Good stuff!

[nicktalan]

I love to use soft light while interviewing US Veterans for a Non-Profit I am a part of. The natural effects of aging shows on a WW2 veteran for example so the soft light helps eliminate some of those effects on camera. I truly love experimenting with different lighting set ups and love that there are virtually unlimited options when it comes to lighting and I think that's why cinematography interests me so much.

[SpaceAgeConsulting]

My favorite way to use soft lighting is in a serious we are recording on personal testimonies against a dark background. We bounce the light away from the edges of the frame back to the subject so that one light can be used as a key and fill and appear softer than a single light setup would.

[ab]

Kicking off 2018 hard, with soft lights! This was another well needed segment and break down in the different type of lights! Soft light does give the overall footage a dreamy type of look and effect! Very smooth and easy on the eyes, I like the Bob Ross reference too lol 0:38! Keep'em coming Aputure! #Aputuresoftlights

[SpencerHaydo]

I've shot several interviews, and I use soft light on the majority of them. It is a great way to light up your subject without giving harsh or distracting shadows.

I would like to experiment more with soft light in narrative pieces. Thanks for the tips! :)

[kylelowe]

My favorite use of soft lighting is to lift the overall luminance in a room. Bouncing a light off of a ceiling or through a space light modifier to make the practical lights in the scene seem more powerful than they actually are.

[neoray]

I use soft light to show the how subtle and vulnerable the subject can be, this adds up to the shot to serve the narrative

[DefiantFilmsTV]

Backlighting subjects with a huge soft source is pretty epic, then bouncing that to fill up slightly from the front, depending on your cameras DR to keep the contrast ratios within it's capabilities.

[davepov]

I always use soft lighting on interviews. Everyone knows the old trick of going to Walmart and buying a shower curtain to put in front of a light to soften it. That works but on several occasions while on the road, I actually stopped by a Jo Ann's and bought different thicknesses of plain white fabric. Sure, no fabric is perfect white but with todays mirrorless camera shooting in Log mode, we've always been able to compensate in post for slight color variations. Of course, we've also stopped by Home Depot to buy a chuck of 4'x4' insulating foam with a silver material on one side to use as a reflector. And, if it's too harsh, we flip it around and use the white side.

[romandahm]

My favorite use of soft lighting is to use it as a key light for portraits and headshots! Recently, my girlfriend started her own youtube channel and I bought her a cob120D for her birthday. I love the soft light we get with an umbrella, even though I prefer the look of an actual softbox, but couldn't afford one on top of the cob120D because I am studying at university. If I could, I would really love to try out that light dome mini :) Super helpful tips as always, Ted!

[scottwilkinson]

I love a soft source of light coming from overhead. It creates interesting shadows on subjects and creates a very different mood than a source from the sides. This can go for light source coming from the bottom too like the opening set in Guardians of the Galaxy 2, it just created a different vibe simply because of the placement of the light.

[joeytryst]

Super DIY!!! A china ball attached to a cheap mic boom pole for a walk and talk and can lights shot through a shower curtain for static shots.