Lighting Masterclass

Making Use of Window Light

Window light can be the perfect source for the professional. Learn how to position your subject, why it matters which direction your windows face and how to deal with direct and indirect sunlight.

Our architecturally quirky studio has windows facing all four aspects. Some are full-length, some are standard sizes and others are tiny apertures tucked up near the ceilings. At certain times of the day, in certain spots and under certain weather conditions, a shaft or two of sunlight will pour through one of the smallest, highest windows like the aura of an angel.

If I notice this light during a shoot I pause whatever I had planned and usher my subject under this spotlight. It doesn’t work every time, but it’s always worth a punt. When it does pay off it’s usually my favourite image of the whole session. That’s partly because of the quality that glass will add to direct sunlight. It could be the imperfect surface of the glazing, but somehow this type of light is magical.

It’s also due to the high position of these small windows. One of the challenges of working with window light is getting the angle right. A high window generally produces a more flattering angle to the light than a low one. In fact, with a WORDS SARAH PLATER / IMAGES PAUL WILKINSON

SOFT, INDIRECT WINDOW LIGHT Studios in the northern hemisphere that use natural light often rely on a northfacing window. The sun rises in the east, sets in the west and shines over southernfacing aspects throughout the day. Therefore, having a north-facing window enables those studios to avoid direct sunlight coming through.

As we’ve shown in a previous feature (Professional Photo, issue 159), direct sunlight can be an incredibly effective and dramatic lighting source. However, it also presents additional challenges for the photographer. For example, the quality of the light is harsher, so it can be a lot less flattering. It causes higher contrast between areas of light and shade, which means the photographer may have to come to terms with losing detail at one extreme or the other. And of course, it can make your subject squint.

However, the sun’s light is softer and more flattering at the start and end of its arc through the sky each day. So a southfacing window that is difficult to work with at midday could offer beautiful light in the morning or evening. If you can’t change the time of your shoot you can always change the quality of the light through some DIY or

ABOVE: 50mm, f/4, 1/180sec, ISO 1100 The softest light is from a north-facing window (in the northern hemisphere) or a diffused window if direct sun is hitting it. This is Lucy, a world-famous portrait painter. The indirect sunlight from her windows is softened further by the white walls of the room, which bounce light around and help to reduce the density of any shadows.

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little finessing, it’s sometimes possible for me to use this shaft of sunlight to create a lighting pattern reminiscent of a Rembrandt painting.

I’m certain there are many such patches of window light that we walk past every day. The difference between a mediocre photographer and a good one is firstly, learning to spot great light and, secondly, understanding how to use it. These are six of the things I look for when working with window light and what I do once I’ve spotted the opportunity.

purpose-made modifiers: hanging up a net curtain, a white bedsheet or a scrim (thin, semi-opaque paper) in front of a window will soften any direct sunlight, effectively giving a similar effect to the one you might achieve by using a north-facing window.

But whereabouts should you stand, relative to the light? I’ll typically position myself so that the window is to my side, and also to the side or at a slight angle to my subject, as I’ve found that to be the most flattering. If, however, you’re looking to replicate the current fashion trend for flat lighting, stand with your back to the window. This gives a ring-light effect, with your silhouette reflected in the subject’s eyes, edged by a distinctive catchlight caused by the window behind you.

MULTIPLE WINDOWS

When there’s more than one window, you can use them as you would multiple lights in a studio. For instance, when I’m photographing a wedding the bride is often getting ready in one of the nicest rooms at the venue. If the wedding is taking place at a stately home, the bridal suite is often a corner room, with a window on each outside wall and light flooding in.

If so, I position the bride so that the light from one of the windows (the ‘key light’) is washing over her face. I then angle myself so that the light from the second window produces a ‘kiss light’, which is a gentle glow on her cheek, jaw and/or hair. A kiss light is usually less powerful than the key light. To mimic this in the bridal suite I move the bride closer to the window lighting her face. Because of the way light falls off, having your subject closer to one window means the strength of the light reaching their face is stronger relative

ABOVE: 105mm, f/2, 1/350sec, ISO 200 Paul is a friend and top event producer. He and I stole away for a five-minute chat in the Green Room inside his office. I loved how the row of windows created soft, wraparound light, so I took this quick portrait. A wide aperture means the coffee machines in the background are out-of-focus details that add a sense of space and place without serving to distract from Paul’s face.

to the furthest window.

Of course, this example assumes soft, even light coming from both windows, which isn’t always the case! However, windows at stately homes usually have net curtains, and these can be pulled across one or the other to soften the light if required.

Stately homes aren’t the only buildings that have multiple windows, either in a row or on more than one wall. Sometimes offices have a row of windows along one or more sides of the building while, at home, conservatories offer wraparound light on almost every side. In both cases, indirect sunlight through these can be beautifully soft and flattering. Position your subject so the catchlights in their eyes are above the pupil, and angle yourself for the most visually pleasing composition. Use a wide aperture so that any background distractions fade into abstract blurs behind your subject.

HIGH WINDOWS We’re used to seeing everything lit from above: sunlight and artificial lights are typically overhead. That’s why it looks wrong when the lighting comes from a low angle. Think of children holding a torch under their chin, pointed up at their face, when telling scary stories. There’s a reason that’s known as ‘horror lighting’!

I use the position of catchlights in my subject’s eyes as a shorthand for checking whether my light is where I need it to be. Imagine a line between the pupils of your subject’s eyes: are the reflections from your light source above that line? If so, there’s a good chance that you’ve got some flattering light to work with.

Now look in a mirror when you stand near the windows in your home. Are the catchlights in the top or bottom half of your eyes? If your home is like most, you’ll often find the catchlights are in the bottom half, particularly if you have fulllength windows or glazed patio doors. That’s the main challenge with window light, especially as you won’t be able to move the position of the windows.

You can, however, move your subject. If the windows are too low, seating your subject often provides a quick fix. Alternatively, block off the bottom half of windows or glazed doors to stop lighting coming on to your subject from too low down. In addition, opt for rooms with darker flooring if you find too much light is being bounced up from a pale floor, creating horror lighting on your subject’s chin. This effect is something common in rooms with full-length windows.

As a general rule opt for windows with

ABOVE: 175mm, f/4, 1/100sec, ISO 800 You can’t move the windows, but you can move your subject! I asked James to lie on the floor for this shot and challenged him to land a marble in my lens. Find out why and what happened next at https://pwfoto.co/marbles.

a top ledge of seven foot or more. This means that you can get some light from a higher angle than the majority of subjects, even if you need to screen off the bottom portion of the window to avoid a horror lighting effect. Windows higher up in buildings, such as skylights, are often the best option of all if you have access to them.

BEAUTIFUL WINDOWS If I spot an architecturally beautiful window I’ll often consider ways of including it in the picture. After all, an attractive window is not just a light source; it can be part of your scene, acting as a frame-within-a-frame or a decorative element.

For example, I might direct my subject to look, or lean, out of the window. This gives a very different feel compared to an image where the subject is looking down the lens. When they look away from the camera we - as viewers - become curious about what they can see.

During the day it’s brighter outside than inside, so including a window in the shot presents a challenge when it comes to balancing the exposure. If you get the exposure correct for the room interior, then the outside will be overexposed and vice versa. There are a few ways you can handle this: for example, you can pull across a net curtain to reduce the contrast. You could also underexpose the inside and then fix this in postproduction, while masking off the window area to keep this unaffected.

Including a window within a shot is a common technique with nude and boudoir portraits, allowing the light to wrap around the subject’s form while parts of their body

ABOVE: 70mm, f/3.3, 1/180sec, ISO 800 I loved the repetition, shape and timelessness of these window frames, and the fact that their colour matched the cream and brown palette of the image. Including them in the shot adds visual interest and a strong sense of place.

fall into shadow. This can give a dreamy feel to your image, with the overexposed windows providing a clean, white background to the subject.

VENETIAN BLINDS Slatted blinds add texture to the light, which can bring visual interest to a portrait. They also enable control over the amount of light falling on a scene. Tilting the slats upwards bounces the light from the ceiling, while tilting the slats downwards pushes the light down.

Hard, direct sunlight through Venetian blinds gives a moody, dark and dramatic effect, which is often used to lend a 1940s film noir feel to a portrait. If you do this it’s important to move your subject, so that the lines of light cross their eyes. This adds the all-important catchlight and draws the viewer’s attention straight to your subject’s eyes.

Studio photographers have picked up on the appeal of using slatted blinds, but

there’s one problem. When the sun shines through the lines of the light stay parallel, because the light source is nearly 150 million kilometres away. Studio lighting is a much closer, softer light source. That means that when a studio light is placed behind slatted blinds the lines of the light diverge after they pass through the blind. Move your light source further away to minimise this telltale giveaway as much as possible!

ABOVE: 105mm, f/2, 1/180sec, ISO 100 Venetian blinds add interesting visual patterns to an image, elevating this commercial portrait to something a little more interesting than your standard office scene. I used a speedlight to the left (as we’re looking at it) to brighten up the shadows on the subject’s cheek that were furthest from the window.

STREET-LEVEL WINDOWS

RIGHT: 105mm, f/4, 1/90sec ISO 100 Street-level windows enable you to shoot window lit portraits through the glass. One of the toughest challenges in this situation is working around any reflections on the glazing, which can make your subject hard to see. Here I’ve used Helen’s partner to create a shadow on the glass through which we see her face - combining her features with his profile in silhouette.

Windows are a unique light source in that you can also shoot through them. You’ve probably seen Instagram pictures of good-looking subjects gazing out of coffee-shop windows with the reflection of the skyline in the glass; that’s just one of the possibilities.

The toughest challenge when shooting through glass is communicating with your subject what you’d like him or her to do. I’ve found that having both your phones connected on a call and set to speaker mode is the easiest way to get round this.

The second challenge is finding an area of glazing that doesn’t have the sky reflected in it. When this happens, not only is it hard to make out your subject in the image, but your camera’s autofocus is likely to struggle. Once your autofocus system finds something to latch on to it stops hunting. If it keeps locking on to something in the reflection (such as clouds or buildings), it can be a struggle to redirect focus on to your subject, who is likely to be completely blurred.

My eyesight isn’t good enough for me to trust manual focus, so what I do is start off with manual to get the autofocus system in close range of my subject’s eyes. Then a quick tap on the autofocus button is more likely to lock the system on to the correct target.

If you want to get really clever when shooting subjects through glass you can add meaning to the narrative via the shape used to block the reflections. For example, you could position a loved one so that his or her silhouette on the glass blocks out the reflections and enables us to see through to your main subject. This then gives your viewer a much more rewarding and layered experience when they’re exploring your image.

I love the look of windows and window light so much that once day soon I’m going to pick up a reclaimed window and build a set for use in our studio. Until then, I’ll continue to use the methods described in this feature to create beautiful window light portraits for my clients.

Why not set yourself a challenge to actively notice how the window light in your home or studio changes over the day and the seasons? Persuade a friend or family member to model for you, then test, play and try again. Whether it’s your first window light portrait or your thousandth, head to MasteringPortraitPhotography. com and click on ‘Critique’ to upload it for constructive, supportive feedback. I can’t wait to see what you create! A FINAL WORD ON WINDOW LIGHT...

CASE STUDY: Window lit portrait at a client’s home

This was taken at the very end of an engagement shoot. Samantha and her partner live in an old mill house, and we’d created a series of images set in the beautiful grounds of the building. I had packed everything away and said my goodbyes when I turned to walk out and spotted gorgeous sunlight drifting over their armchair. I was tired and ready to go home. I studied the scene for a second more and knew I would regret it forever if I walked out. I turned to my clients: would they mind if we did one more shot? Happily, they didn’t.

There’s two parts to the final image I took that day. There’s Samantha in the armchair, lit by the window light on the right, and there’s the open door and hallway on the left hand side. The far side of the door is painted white, so I’ve left it open to act as a fill light. I’ve angled it so that it’s bouncing some daylight into the shadow areas on Samantha’s face and, as a bonus, it’s throwing a puddle of light across the parquet flooring, too.

The room was painted a dark colour, which minimises the amount of light that’s reflected off the interior surfaces. This means the light is very directional and could be unflattering if I wasn’t very careful about how I positioned Samantha.

I angled the chair so that the window light fell across half the curve of the

ABOVE: 70mm, f/4, 1/125sec, ISO 800 I was ready to head home when I spotted this characterful armchair, lit by the softening light of the late afternoon sun. I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t stop to take the shot, so I worked out a way to include my client in the scene and finessed it from there.

chair’s headrest. I asked Samantha to sit in the lit part, and she’s facing slightly towards the light, which means the side of her face nearest the camera is mostly in shadow. This is called narrow lighting, and it’s flattering for most people (apart from those with very narrow faces!).

I asked Samantha to sit as she would normally do, then tidied up the pose from there: getting her to relax back into the headrest, crossing her legs and relaxing her hands into her lap. In just a couple of minutes the scene was captured and I was packing up for a second time.

It’s always worth getting your camera out of the bag again should you happen to see an opportunity like this. In the end this image won me the Master Photographers Association Lifestyle and Location Portrait of the Year 2013. The trick is to notice those beautiful patches of light and you then just have to work out the image from there.

MEET THE PRO

Paul Wilkinson FMPA FBIPP FSWPP is a multi-award winning international photographer, with a boutique studio midway between Oxford and London. He is co-author of the best-selling book Mastering Portrait Photography and shares his skills and experience with other photographers through the free companion site www. masteringportraitphotography.com.

If you have any queries regarding this feature you can contact Paul at: info@ masteringportraitphotography.com

/ Mastering Portrait Photography by Paul Wilkinson and Sarah Plater is published by Ammonite Press, priced £19.99. Available from www.thegmcgroup.com and all good book shops.

VIDEO:

CAPTURING A GENTLE, WINDOW LIT PORTRAIT Stuck indoors on a grey day? Watch how Paul creates a window lit portrait featuring a reflection in this short video: https://pwfoto.co/windowlight.

NEXT MONTH: CORPORATE STUDIO HEADSHOTS

A mainstay of commercial photography is capturing portraits of an organisation’s staff. Learn the high key set-up Paul uses for his ‘safety’ shot, find out where your lights need to go to create great catchlights and what you need to think about before you start shooting.