hard light

American  

noun

Cinematography.

1. directed light, especially light whose beams are relatively parallel, producing distinct shadows and a harsher modeling effect on the subject.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hard light

One wears sprinkles like confetti or a glaze sticky as the night and waits under hard light at an airport coffee counter.

From Salon ● Feb. 5, 2026

And then came Ms. Chang’s astonishing bestseller—part memoir, part history—to throw a hard light on it all.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026

Most days, the tropical sun bounces off the coral and sand, refracting into a hard light that gives many islanders a permanent squint.

From New York Times ● Feb. 22, 2020

His natural instinct is to seek out the untold, unflattering story, to shine the cold, hard light of reality on a guy who seems too good to be true.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2019

“Just a sec, Aunt Heidi,” I say, and whip the plaid tent off over my head and avoid looking too close at my soft body in the hard light.

From "Better Nate Than Ever" by Tim Federle

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