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Photography has fashion trends like other creative industries. A trend that has been popular in product, portrait, food and drink photography is hard light. It’s a look that I'm seeing everywhere these days, particularly in advertising, social media platforms and website design. Are you with me?

So, what is it? Generally speaking, there are two main types of lighting: soft and hard. Both can be achieved using natural light (i.e the sun) and artificial light. The main difference between the two is the quality of the shadows that you get when the light is cast on the subject.

Soft light has very soft shadows, sometimes barely visible at all, that are easy to see through. Soft light is used in portraiture and food photography to make the subject look similar to the way that our eyes ideally envision it.

Hard light is the opposite. It is characteristic of having very dark shadows and very bright, directional light on the subject. There is an abrupt transition between the light and the shadows - a discernible line or a higher contrast, between the brightest portions of the image and the shadows. It’s known for being edgy and dramatic. It focuses our attention less to the black areas and more to what’s actually in colour and illuminated well. It makes the subject pop.

Well, I guess you can be the judge. I’m sharing some recent photos I’ve taken using hard light.

Are you a fan?

For those of you who are interested, I’ve included my camera settings for each of the shots. The camera I shoot with is a Sony a7R 111 35mm full-frame mirrorless camera. I shot these photographs with my Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 lens in natural light