There are primarily two kinds of light based on their light intensities. These are hard lights and diffused lights. Hard lights are high intensity lights that are very bright and give light in a concentrated form. Most hard lights are generally frennel lights with concentrated lenses in front of them that can be used to concentrate the light.

As concentrated and high intensity lights, these are generally used as key lights that give a sense of direction to the frame. if you see the image on the left, the light being used is a hard light and is coming from the front of the object, thus giving us a sense of dimension and direction of the objects.

As you can see in the image, hard light gives a lot of harsh shadows. Hard lights bring out very high contrast and high lights. While using hard lights one needs to ensure that it doesn’t make your scene very unpleasant and artificial, hence it is always advised to use a fill light to give a natural look to the frame. Hard lights are also used to enhance the texture and shape of the objects and are generally thrown from an angle of 45 degrees rather than right from the direction of the camera, as such simple having camera lamps, like the Sony HVL-HIRL, simply be attached to the camera, will not have the same effect. If you wish to build up an emotion or drama in your frame then you must use hard lights and play with the dark shadows and intense highlights. Using different colour gels in front of hard light can also help you build an ambience and emotion. These light are most commonly used lights but they are always used stylistically to bring the desired effect.