I tend to think of two main components to light: Direction and Diffusion. If possible, you want to make both of these choices, and if you can't choose either you need to be aware of the consequences of shooting with light you don't love.
In this series, we used a big naked studio strobe for one photo, and then diffused it with a 3' diameter white diffuser. In both cases there is a large white reflector bouncing light back into the dark side of the image.
Bottom Line: Both direction and diffusion of the light source will affect the look.
150mm, f8 to f11, studio flash, ISO 200
Left
Right
Here the direct sun-like light from the back has overexposed Nicole's neck and hair, but has also allowed lots of nice soft light to bounce back at her from the big reflector (that you can't see) on the right.
So we get kind of a semi-natural light look, compared to the more "studio" look on the next panel.
Here the large diffuser between Nicole and the naked strobe softens the look on the left, but her face is still nicely lighted via soft light reflected from a large reflector on the right. This a bit more "studio" looking than its counterpart to the left.
Hard light from the side — see the well-defined shadows. This looks like what you get from direct sunlight when you also have lots of bounce light coming back on the darker side.
Because of the hard-edged shadows and over exposed highlights, this has a somewhat natural light look, which might be a good thing if you want it.
Here we placed a 3' diffusing panel between the naked strobe and Nicole, so the shaping of her features is still there, but the sun-like shadows are gone.
This produces a more "studio" look than the naked flash image in panel 3.
Here we have brought the naked strobe around to three quarters left of Nicole, resulting in some pretty harsh light, again, much like direct sunlight.
When we place the 3' diffuser between the naked strobe and Nicole, things soften up, although it would take some work to adjust the size, closeness and precise location of the light to get a really strong shot with this lighting.
Naked strobe almost above the camera: see the really nasty black shadow below Nicole's nose.
Placing the 3' diffuser between Nicole and the light source softens the shadows nicely.
Here the direct sun-like light from the back has overexposed Nicole's neck and hair, but has also allowed lots of nice soft light to bounce back at her from the big reflector (that you can't see) on the right.
So we get kind of a semi-natural light look, compared to the more "studio" look on the next panel.
Here the large diffuser between Nicole and the naked strobe softens the look on the left, but her face is still nicely lighted via soft light reflected from a large reflector on the right. This a bit more "studio" looking than its counterpart to the left.
Hard light from the side — see the well-defined shadows. This looks like what you get from direct sunlight when you also have lots of bounce light coming back on the darker side.
Because of the hard-edged shadows and over exposed highlights, this has a somewhat natural light look, which might be a good thing if you want it.
Here we placed a 3' diffusing panel between the naked strobe and Nicole, so the shaping of her features is still there, but the sun-like shadows are gone.
This produces a more "studio" look than the naked flash image in panel 3.
Here we have brought the naked strobe around to three quarters left of Nicole, resulting in some pretty harsh light, again, much like direct sunlight.
When we place the 3' diffuser between the naked strobe and Nicole, things soften up, although it would take some work to adjust the size, closeness and precise location of the light to get a really strong shot with this lighting.
Naked strobe almost above the camera: see the really nasty black shadow below Nicole's nose.
Placing the 3' diffuser between Nicole and the light source softens the shadows nicely.
