What is scattered light?

What are direct light and scattered light?

We usually say that direct light and scattered light have different properties and lighting effects, which will be explained separately below.

(1) direct light

Taking natural light as an example, in sunny weather, the sunlight directly irradiates the light receiving surface of the subject's body to produce bright colors, while the indirect light receiving surface forms obvious projections. This kind of light is called direct light. In this kind of lighting light, because there is a certain contrast between the light receiving surface and the shadow surface, it is easier to show the three-dimensional shape of the object being photographed, and the modeling effect of the light is also relatively hard. Some people call it hard light. In the weather with thin clouds covering the sun, because white clouds can diffuse part of the sunlight, the illumination contrast of direct light is reduced, which is suitable for shooting people's erasers. Its light property is still like sunny sunshine, and it is also direct light.

(2) Scattered light

On cloudy days, the sunlight is blocked by the clouds in the sky, so it cannot be directly cast on the subject. The main body relies on the scattered light reflected from the sky for lighting, so there will be no obvious light receiving surface and shadow surface, and there will be no obvious projection, and the light effect is relatively flat and soft. This kind of light is called scattered light, also called soft light. As far as the artificial light emitted by the lamp is concerned, if there is no condensing device on the lamp, or there is a device that can scatter light (such as astigmatism screen, soft paper, reflective umbrella, etc.). ) attached to the lamp, the light emitted is diffuse and also belongs to scattered light.

When shooting, direct or scattered light is used, and the modeling effect is obviously different. The lines and tones of the images taken by direct light are hard, while the lines and tones of the images taken by scattered light are soft. Then, according to what factors to choose the nature of the projected light? There are two main considerations here:

First of all, we should choose the nature of the light according to the needs of the subject image. For example, generally speaking, you should not use the same light to shoot a resolute man and a naive child.

Second, according to the photographer's intention. Some people, unlike the above example, have no clear requirements on the nature of illumination light, and both direct light and scattered light can be used. At this time, you can choose the light according to the photographer's intention to make it meet the photographer's requirements for modeling.

Because some light can't be directed directly, it will scatter in all directions, forming a light scattering phenomenon.