![](https://alionakuznetsova.com/content/images/images-2/Big-Light-Tutorial--Contrast-and-Shadow-Structure/1-eWK81Q-vIf30kideKtA4Zg.jpeg)
Another area where people get confused in lighting is the difference between hard/soft light and high/low contrast. Many people intuitively think that high contrast pictures are made with hard light and less contrast are made with soft light like so:
![](https://alionakuznetsova.com/content/images/images-2/Big-Light-Tutorial--Contrast-and-Shadow-Structure/1-EEdRChPgM4JEyimYqBz_nw.jpeg)
![](https://alionakuznetsova.com/content/images/images-2/Big-Light-Tutorial--Contrast-and-Shadow-Structure/1-kuO-5uNPPsdpVPpc2MAhBg.jpeg)
In fact contrast is the ratio between the brightness of shadow and brightness of light part whereas hard/loft light is about how sharp the shadow border is.
For instance, here is contrasted picture with soft light, see how the shadow gets gradually deeper on her face.
![](https://alionakuznetsova.com/content/images/images-2/Big-Light-Tutorial--Contrast-and-Shadow-Structure/1-QS_DCwTR9ATyVmC2n-vgOA.jpeg)
And hard light picture with uniform light field. Notice the shadow from her chin, shadow on the ear and boldness of textures in general. Compare it with picture #2.
![](https://alionakuznetsova.com/content/images/images-2/Big-Light-Tutorial--Contrast-and-Shadow-Structure/1-IQDC3AvhoXS0XYoXNjIr3w.jpeg)
This texture difference has a lot to do with this question and also leads us to our next topic about texture/color balance.
NextUp: Question about Light Temperature and Mood in Hidden Studio Series