One of the most fundamental concepts any photographer or videographer needs to understand is the quality of light and how to change it to suit your creative needs. This excellent video will give you a quick lesson in hard versus soft light, both what it is and how to affect it.
Coming to you from Aputure, this great video will introduce you to the concept of light quality. Light quality (or "hardness") is one of the most important concepts and will have a significant impact on the look of your images. In most situations, a photographer or videographer will prefer soft light, as it is generally considered to be more flattering for people, but hard light certainly has its uses as well. The important thing to remember is that it is the relative size, not the absolute size of a light that determines how hard its output will be. This means that while you can increase the size of the light source (and the softness of the output) through the use of larger modifiers, you can also simply move the light closer to your subject to achieve the same effect. Check out the video above for the full rundown.
And if you want to really fine-tune your lighting skills, be sure to check out "Illuminating The Face: Lighting for Headshots and Portraits With Peter Hurley!"
Since I'm still learning about softening my lights, maybe I'll miss the price. The beautiful thing is learning that I can also bounce light off a surface to create a more even light