8 Tips for Stunning Window Light Photography
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Loading... - Isla Dixon
- 03 May 2023
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Photographers love window light. Windows tend to offer soft, directional illumination that makes for wonderfully dramatic images – plus, they’re available pretty much anywhere. If you’re looking to elevate your portraits, product shots, or still-life images without spending thousands of dollars on lighting gear, window lighting is a great choice.
That said, working with windows requires some real technical skills. You have to identify the best window, control its illumination, and pick the right camera settings, all of which can be difficult for beginners. Below, I share my top eight tips so you can approach window light photography like a pro!
1. Use a North- or South-Facing Window for Beautiful Soft Light
Windows let in the sun, but depending on the direction of the window, you’ll get more or less sun, and you’ll get harsher or softer light.
East- and west-facing windows, for instance, will give you very direct light when the sun shines through in the morning or the evening. And while this can work for very contrast-heavy, dramatic images, it’s an approach that I generally recommend avoiding.
Why? First, direct sunlight creates harsh shadows, which just aren’t very flattering for portrait, still life, or product photography. Instead, you want soft, even lighting that offers very gradual transitions as it illuminates your subject.
Second, east- and west-facing windows only offer direct light for half the day. The rest of the time the sun will shine in the opposite direction, which results in dramatically reduced illumination. Therefore, using ease- and west-facing windows just makes working out photoshoot times a lot harder; instead of having the whole day to shoot with relatively consistent results, you have to figure out how the lighting changes (dramatically!) over the course of the day and manage your shooting times accordingly.
So instead of using windows facing east and west, find some windows that face north or south. These windows are always offering soft, even, flattering light because the sun doesn’t shine through them directly. And the light remains consistent across the course of the day, which is good for planning (plus it just makes mastering window photography a lot easier!). Read More…
