The Hard Light Look in Photography

I get emails almost weekly, asking me about certain light setups. So I decided to start doing a weekly light series on YouTube. I thought, "what's the best light setup to start it with then with one of my favorite lighting set-ups?"ย Hard Light! I will be rolling out a new lighting setup once a week. They will range from basic to a bit more advanced. I am very excited and happy to do this and teach some of my fellow photographers.

Me and my fabulous styling team, and model Sofie, got into my studio and filmed the first video to this series over the weekend. I find that this setup is on the basic/easy side and will be great for anyone with one light to try out for themselves. For this shoot, I use only one light and show you how they are placed and my settings, etc. The cool thing about this setup, is you do not need to have a million lights to do this look and the results are fabulous. Give it a go, if you have not already! If you have tried this look, what do you think of it? Is it a favorite of yours as well?

Here are some of the images.

Hard Light Photography with Beauty Photographer Dana Cole

Hard Light Photography with Beauty Photographer Dana Cole

Equipment Used

Profoto D1 500 Air
Canon 5D Mark 2ย 
Canon 24-105mm L
Red paper backdrop

My Team

Model: Sofie Bergย  | MUA: Zahra Isabelle | Hair: Zoha Khan

Dana Cole's picture

Dana Cole is a beauty and portrait photographer and retoucher who resides in Oslo, Norway.

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5 Comments

Heyyyyyy Dana! Good stuff!

thanks Kristopher ๐Ÿ˜€๐Ÿ˜€

Great job. Also kudos for still rocking the 5DMK2. Even though I've moved on to other cameras, I still own it in my spare bag. All the talk about DSLR vs Mirrorless, Canon vs Nikon vs Sony, is annoying. As long as you understand the nuances of your equipment, you can produce awesomeness.

Thank you Barry! yeah I love my trusty rusty camera. When it goes kapoot, then I will upgrade to the latest and greatest of Canon. ๐Ÿ˜€

The images look great! I've always strayed away from shooting bare bulb but after watching this video I'll be giving it a try this week! Thanks for posting!