Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/08/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I often shoot photos of some of our hospital patients using only window light.. I also shoot people in rural areas that way, although the window is really a door more often then not. I also have people ask me to photograph them in and around their homes. The one problem I have with doing window lit portraits is that there are a lot of variables. Sometimes you will have a building nearby that will bounce a lot of light towards your window... it gives a lot of direction to the light and there is more of it..... but if it's a blue building.... you are going to get blue light..... if there is lots of grass or trees around... you'll get yellow or green light.. And then you add the variable of reflections from walls inside the house..... some times if you have a nice white wall nearby it will bounce in some fill light.... but sometimes if there is no wall or dark paneling around you end up with a hard looking portrait.... If you have colored walls..... well.... it can make for some weird effects. You can also get some odd looking reflections in eyeglasses or eye highlights.... so you want to watch that carefully.... and if the light is getting reflected off of another building you can get shadows from the frame and panes etc..... And luck usually has it that directly behind your best shooting position is the family photo wall or china cabinet which adds reflections to your background. So you have to rotate a bit..... I would generally recommend that you rotate your position a bit anyhow so the light hits their faces at a bit of an angle... But some people look better with real flat light so.... don't overdo it. Extreme sidelighting may be artistic... but it's generally not what people want. The size of the window will to a certain extent dictate how hard or soft the lighting will be..... some times if there is a light sheer on the window you'll end up with a real nice huge soft box.... but watch out as colored curtains or carpeting around the window which can add some interesting colors too. Furniture is pain in the neck as well.... I usually end up moving some stuff around... Especially if they want somebody seated The big thing with shooting in color at least is to kill all of the artificial lights in the house... to reduce mixed colors. I always hope to shoot with 100 ASA... but always bring something faster just in case. I prefer using a 90 for individuals... but sometimes 50 a 35 is more approriate and with some faces.... closer is not better..... The biggest advantage of using window light for portraits of people is that you can use their home setting for pictures.... they are generally a lot more comfortable, unless they are embarassed about their home.... and you end up with a personal background as opposed to the old master backdrop. Using window light is a WYSIWYG situation, but you really have to pay attention to the color of light and reflections as well as everything else you are doing..... For me it is a lot less work to shoot them in a studio and a large softbox does a pretty good job of matching window light without all of the variables. But I like the results and uniqueness of a well done window lit portrait better. Duane Birkey HCJB World Radio Quito Ecuador Duane's Photographs of Ecuador http://duane_birkey.tripod.com