ABSTRACT
Photographers can describe the way light casts shadows as one aspect of its ‘quality’. In a clear sky the sun will always cast harsh shadows. The opposite quality from the harsh point source lighting is soft diffuse light. This is the kind of light in bright shade or on a cloudy day. Photographers generate this type of light with a soft box or a big reflector with a covered bulb. Spotlights and reflectors generate hard, high-contrast light. Because black-and-white photography deals only with the presence and absence of light, the medium is amenable to all qualities and intensities of light. Lighting contrast is also important but often less so with black and white than with colour.
