Wonderful Window Light
Natural light. It can be easy to work with, or difficult. It can be dramatic, or soft and quiet. When you are working indoors but using natural window light, there can actually still be a ton of variation to your images and their mood. You are, however, at the mercy of the sun for both timing of your shoot and the types or qualities of light you will have access to. This means that natural light might not always be an option for you, which is why there are a lot of great light modifiers and accessories that can be used to mimic natural light. A lot of people also think that natural light can be an easier way to go, especially if you are not super comfortable with strobes, and creating your desired look with them, but the sun can be challenging in that it doesn’t always cooperate with your vision. It takes practice to find those unique and beautiful instances of natural light, and I would encourage you to remember to always be noting interesting light and what is creating it as you go about your daily life, as that focus will certainly help you to capture your vision next time you shoot with natural light. Take a look at the examples and breakdowns below to get some tips and ideas for your next shoot!
In these first 2 images of Sienna, we are using window light provided by direct sun. In order to keep the light on the softer side, Melissa placed Sienna in a shadow area. Since the sunlight is fairly direct, she still got great contrast and shadow on our subject, without having to deal with the crazy dynamic range that could happen if she was getting hit directly with the sunlight. The portrait on the left has a nice soft feel but retains some very nice contrast and drama. On the right, by opening up the composition Melissa was able to add some graphic elements by showing the bright areas around the model that were getting hit directly.
In the same location as the 2 images above, we changed looks and got Sienna and Lambo back on set. By this time, some clouds had come in and taken away the highlight shapes from the windows themselves. This changed the scene dramatically, evening out the overall lighting a lot compared to the previous look. It is not, however, your traditional ‘open shade’ where the sun is usually somewhat behind the subject and the light is extremely soft and even. Since the sun is still coming in these windows and is just diffused by cloud cover, we get that nice soft diffused light, but there is till a bit more ‘punch’ than full-on open shade.
Like the top two images of Sienna, these images of Sienna (L) and Lambo (R) were made using direct sunlight through a window. Rather than placing our subject in a shadow area to even out the light, I embraced that harsh contrast and used the intense highlights and shadows to add drama and shape to the images. The patterns on Sienna were caused by the window itself, and though the light is harsh it makes for an interesting portrait. For the image of Lambo, I used black V-Flats to block light from one large highlight area, isolating a strip of light through her face and eye to create a more minimal composition.
These last two images show that softer, traditional ‘open shade’ lighting doesn’t have to be boring. It will depend on your subject of course, but both of these images were made when the sun was on the other side of the building from the window that served as the light source. Since that light was much softer, and was all reflected from outside, we don’t have as strong of contrast as we do in most of the other examples in this post. Lambo (L) was lit directly from the side, and while we do have nice contrast, the image is more subtle and more about the tonality and texture than shape and contrast. The image of Sienna (R), had her facing straight at the window, with a black V-Flat brought in to add a little more shadow to one side of her face. Again we have a much less contrasty image, but the softness and tonality still create a compelling portrait.
In this last image of Sienna sporting her new BREED tank, Robert Trawick again used just window light (and a little fill), but he flipped it all around. Sienna is backlit by strong sun through the wall of windows in the background, with a fill to the front to brighten her face a little bit. You can fill with a strobe, as they are mostly balanced for daylight all you have to do is get the intensity right and you can maintain a very natural result. It’s also generally more natural to bounce light off the ceiling or into a white V-Flat, than it is to do something like a straight on beauty dish, but then again no one said you had to keep a natural look to your image just because you are using some natural light! Play around with different fill, sometimes a reflector is sufficient, and sometimes you do need some flash, but strong backlight can be a great setup to use either through windows or even if you are fully outdoors!
We encourage you to play with natural light, whether or not you think you have a great location for it. The results may surprise you, or may inform your style next time you work with strobes!
Let us know in the comments below if you prefer natural light or strobe, or do you love them both?