Last week when we were visiting my sister-in-law, an interesting thing happened. She was showing me some photos she took on her iPhone and said “look how much better these photos are when we were over by the window”.
I was surprised Doesn’t everyone know that?!? Then I realized NO. Maybe everyone doesn’t know that. Just because it’s second nature to me and I don’t even have to consciously think about that, doesn’t mean it’s like that for everyone. I mean, why would it be?
I was there myself. Years ago when I just first started studying photography. All I kept hearing about was the light The light! The light! The light!! Like a broken record! What was the big deal about light?!? But the more I studied and practiced, I eventually saw how important it was. In essence, a light went on in my head! It finally clicked!!
Now I’m one of them – a photographer preaching about the light!
I make use of window light all the time and it’s something that’s accessible to everyone and it’s a definite way to improve your own photographs. Do I own studio lights? Yes. Do I use studio lights? Rarely! I love the look of natural light and it’s so much easier than having to set up lights!
Yesterday I did a session with 2 and 3 year olds. I’ll have an upcoming post about that but in the meantime here you can see the difference from when the little girl turned away from the light on the left, to when she was more towards the light on the right. These are just straight out of my camera – no editing done.
How cute is she, right?!? OK, but we’re here to analyze the light, not the cuteness. On the left you can see how it’s kind of gray and flat – no dimension. On the right it’s brighter and there’s dimension to her face with light and shadow. See what I mean?
You can play around with your subject facing the window full on, halfway or even three quarters.
Here are some other examples of photographs only using the window as the light source…
Even food!
So whether you’re using a DLSR, Point and Shoot, smartphone or tablet, move over to the window! Let there be light!!
Would love to see some of your before and after photos. Put the link in the comments section or if you have any questions about using window light, just let me know!
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