Photography Lighting Quiz — Test Your Knowledge

Golden hour is the period around the first and last hour of sunlight. The sun is low, so its light passes through more atmosphere and comes out warm, soft and directional, with long shadows that reveal texture. Midday sun is high, hard and less flattering.

Hard light comes from a small or distant source, like bare sun or a bare flash, and casts shadows with sharp, crisp edges. Soft light comes from a large source relative to the subject, like an overcast sky or a big softbox, and casts shadows that fade gradually. The difference is about source size, not brightness.

Rembrandt lighting places the main light to one side and above the subject, at about 45 degrees. The far cheek falls into shadow except for a small triangle of light below the eye. It is named after the painter Rembrandt, who often lit faces this way.

A diffuser is a translucent material placed between the light and the subject. It spreads the light over a larger area, which makes it softer and turns hard shadows into gradual ones. It also reduces brightness somewhat rather than increasing it.

Backlighting means the main light is behind the subject and shines toward the camera. It outlines edges with a rim of light, makes hair and translucent things glow, and can create silhouettes. Exposure needs care, because the camera may underexpose the subject.

Fill light is a second, weaker light that brightens the shadows the key light creates. It lowers contrast without adding new shadows of its own, so the key light still shapes the face. The main shadows come from the key light, not the fill.

Side light from about 90 degrees lights one half of the face and leaves the other half in shadow, which gives the strongest modeling and the most dramatic shadows. Flat light from behind the camera fills shadows and hides form, and diffused light softens shadows instead of deepening them.

Blue hour occurs when the sun is below the horizon but the sky is still receiving indirect atmospheric scatter, producing a deep, even blue without any direct light source. Artificial lights are on and match the blue sky brightness, making it particularly useful for architectural and urban photography.

Flare happens when light from a bright source, such as the sun in or just outside the frame, bounces between lens elements and off the inside of the barrel instead of forming the image. It shows up as ghost shapes, streaks or a hazy loss of contrast. A lens hood helps block it. A dirty lens can make flare worse, but the cause is the stray bright light.

Bouncing means turning the flash head toward a ceiling or wall, which then becomes the light source. That surface is far larger than the flash head, so the light is softer with gentler shadows than a flash aimed straight at the subject. A white or neutral surface avoids adding a color cast.