How do I use window light for photos at home?

Studio lighting is an attempt to build what a north-facing window does for nothing. Understanding the three variables — direction, size and distance — turns a kitchen into a workable studio.

Step by step

1. Turn the room lights off.Ceiling bulbs are a different colour from daylight and much weaker, so they contribute an ugly second shadow and a colour cast the camera cannot correct in one go. One source at a time.
2. Place the subject beside the window, not in front of it.Light coming from the side sculpts a face and shows texture. Light from directly behind you flattens everything. Light from behind the subject makes a silhouette. Ninety degrees or a little less is the useful default.
3. Turn the subject slightly towards the light.Facing a person a third of the way towards the window puts light across the front of the face and keeps a shadow on the far side. That shadow is what gives a portrait shape.
4. Get closer to the window than feels necessary.Light falls off very fast near a source. A metre from the window is soft and bright; three metres away is dimmer and much more contrasty, because the window is now small relative to the subject.
5. Judge whether the light is soft or hard.Soft light comes from a large source relative to the subject — a big window on a grey day, or a window in shade. Hard light comes from a small one — direct sun through a gap. Look at the edge of the shadow: gradual means soft, sharp means hard.
6. Diffuse direct sun.A net curtain, a white sheet, tracing paper or a shower curtain taped over the glass turns a hard sunbeam into a large soft source. This is exactly what a studio softbox does and it costs nothing.
7. Fill the shadow side.A sheet of white card, a white wall, a reflective car sunshade or even a white tablecloth placed just out of frame on the dark side bounces light back and softens the contrast. Move it closer for more fill and further for less.
8. Kill the fill when you want drama.Replace the white card with something black — a coat, a black bin bag over card — and the shadow side goes deeper. This is how you get a moody portrait from the same window.
9. Use the same setup for objects and food.Side or back light from a window shows texture and translucency in a way front light cannot. For food, light from behind and to one side, with a white card in front, is the standard arrangement and it works in any kitchen.

Tips

• A north-facing window in the UK gives soft, consistent light all day and never has direct sun in it. It is the best free light source in a house.
• Overcast days are the easiest light there is. The whole sky becomes one enormous softbox.
• Shoot with the window on the same side as the subject's face is turned. Lighting the back of a turned head is the classic beginner arrangement and it never works.

Common mistakes

• Standing the subject with their back to the window — The camera meters the bright window and the face becomes a silhouette. If the composition requires it, you must add light to the face or expose for the face and accept a white window.
• Leaving the room lights on — Two sources of different colour and direction produce a double shadow and a colour cast that cannot be corrected globally, because different parts of the picture need different corrections.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask