Window light is an excellent, free light source. It can achieve the same effects as much bigger, more expensive lighting equipment. A large window is essentially a huge softbox. It will diffuse light into the room and around the subject you place in front of it.

If you see the window as a softbox, everything that you know about a softbox will be relevant to this lighting.

First of all, the larger the window, the softer the light. A large window provides a wider angle from which the light falls on to your face. It produces less shadows. This is very important to remember if you’re trying to take photos with hard shadows.

There are many ways in which a window is better than a softbox. They come in all shapes and sizes. They’re everywhere. They’re free to use. And they’re easy to experiment with.

The downsides are that the light is dependent upon the weather and time of day. You also have to move the model or subject, rather than just the light source (the window).

The soft nature of window light makes it very flattering for portrait photography. The shadows that appear on the face are very natural and don’t accentuate any features.

If there were any features that you would want to hide, you’d want to make the light harder. You do this by standing farther from the window, or using a smaller window.

A window is a great way to get an expensive look for free – how you use your window is up to you.

Move the subject closer to you with the majority of the window light behind them. The lighting on the face will become softer as the left side of the face starts to even out with the right.

Turn this the other way and the right side of the face will even out with the left, making for a more evenly lit subject.

It’s important to experiment and see which you like the most and whether it suits whatever you’re shooting.

Obviously there are more uses for window lighting than just models: still life, animals, etc.

When the subject is facing a window, you will end up with a very soft, yet rather flat, image with fewer shadows.

Yes, this will light the subject but it won’t look all that interesting compared to some of the other possible effects.

It’s also important to note any other light available in the room. You don’t want any of the lights to be on or you’ll struggle to set the right white balance; there is more than one light source.

When the window is behind the subject, you get the same sort of results as when you shoot into the sun: the camera will probably try to expose for the window, unless you’re using spot metering, causing a silhouette.

When you have the camera set to spot metering, you can overexpose the background to blow out the light, while exposing for the subject in the foreground. This can produce a very cool effect and it’s about the only interesting white/light background that I like to use.

experimenting with window lighting:

in this portrait the iso was on 400, it was taken under an artificial yellow light with a black card behind the person in the portrait. The shooting settings was on manual like the focus settings. the person in the portrait was not positions in the center he was a bit to the right of the light so that half of his face is in shadow and the other half is lighten.

in this photo it was on high shutter speed, and was focused using manual focus. the photo was taken at a 45 degree angle to create movement in the portrait. the background was chosen on purpose, its an abstract painting that was made by one of the art students, it creates a lot of color in the background. the light was natural coming the window on the left of the photo but it was distributed and soft because the sunlight went through the clouds which diffused the light. but as you can see there is still some light on the right of the photo, that light was created using a light reflector board that was positioned from the bottom by the other student to reflect some of the window on the right side of the face.

this portrait was taken from the bottom looking upwardish on the face. it was taken using low shutter speed and manual focus that made the photo not focused to create texture in the portrait. the light was coming from ceiling windows on top of the school, the windows are actually the background of the portrait. and light on the front of the face was created by reflecting the background light through reflectors positioned under the camera.

in conclusion all portraits that are made with window lighting have a special affect on them. and a lot can be experimented using window lighting (direct sunlight, diffused sunlight, using reflectors….) and not all portraits have to be focused. and last but not least you have to always have your person in the portrait have direct eye contact with the cameras lens.

PHOTO SHOOT METHOD: 

WHO – for this  photo shoot, I selected two models for my shoot which I thought would be suitable to photograph, people who are quite photogenic in nature.

WHAT – the main objective of this photo shoot was to try out different lighting techniques. Fill lighting, 2 point lighting, 3 point lighting and even four point lighting.

WHEN – the images were taken during school time, regardless of the time of day, artificial lighting lit the photo shoot.

WHERE -the images were captured in the school studio, specially designed for taking photographs.

WHY – to understand the different effects that studio lighting provides and the subtle differences between them.

HOW – I used my regular DSLR camera for this photo shoot, using the artificial lighting provided.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF LIGHTING: 

TWO – POINT – LIGHTING:

A two point lighting set up can produce highlights in the eyes and some  shadow. The secondary source of light is used to eliminate shadows that are created by the key light, it will soften contrasts and make more of the subject visible by enhancing the illumination of the face from  the key light.

THREE – POINT – LIGHTING:

Three-point lighting is a standard method used in visual media such as theater, video, film, still photography and computer-generated imagery. By using three separate positions, the photographer can illuminate the shot’s subject (such as a person) however desired, while also controlling (or eliminating entirely) the shading and shadows produced by direct lighting.

FILL – LIGHTING:

In television, film, stage, or photographic lighting, a fill light may be used to reduce the contrast of a scene to match the dynamic range of the recording media and record the same amount of detail typically seen by eye in average lighting and considered normal.

CHIAROSCURO LIGHTING:

REMBRANDT LIGHTING:

Rembrandt lighting is a lighting technique that is used in studio portrait photography. It can be achieved using one light and a reflector, or two lights, and is popular because it is capable of producing images which appear both natural and compelling with a minimum of equipment.

RING LIGHTING: 

A ring light is a handy multi-use tool for all types of shoots, from a sharp music video to a portrait of a ladybug. They provide uniform light coming straight from the camera’s point of view, which is great for even light, and helps eliminate shadows.

REFLECTORS:

In flat lighting, a reflector can add interest or drama to the shot. Some photographers use reflectors as hair lights outdoors. Many reflectors have a black side that can be used to block out light instead of to reflect it. Reflectors are also great for bouncing a flash when there’s nothing around to bounce off of.

CONTACT SHEETS:

One of the main issues that came up during this photo shoot was overexpose. When using 3 point lighting, the ISO of the camera has to be set very low in order to avoid overexposure. The red heads and soft box provides light which is very powerful.

Street Photography 

Street photography is photography conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places. Most street photography does not necessitate the presence of a street or even the urban environment. Though people usually feature directly, street photography might be absent of people and can be an object of environment where the image projects a decidedly human character.

MOOD BOARD..

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Bresson was a French photographer, who thought of photography as a way of capturing a decisive moment. Bresson’s passion of photography came at an early age when he used to capture moments of his family holidays. Due to this small hobby developing he has made it into a career and has also made a large contribution towards photography.

Emotional response 

The children in this image draw us in a cause us to develop an emotional attachment to them due to it looking like their homes have been destroyed because of the wreckage behind them. The facial expressions on the children also draw us in due to there expressions not being happy which leads us to wonder what else is wrong and realise that something isn’t right.

Technical response 

This edited black and white image shows the destruction in the image in more detail (eg. the detail of the hole in the wall), as well as the children’s moody faces. The hole in the wall sort of acts like a frame and is a large subject of the image. The children being outside this wall as well as in it ( the boy on the right hand side) suggests that they don’t have much to play with which is shown by the boy of the right hand side smiling while climbing the unsafe wall. The formal elements of this image is shown through the use of the children in the location. The whole pictures is in focus, however the background is slightly less out of focus which gives the image a large depth of field. There was a quick shutter speed used due to the non existent blurring, as well as the image being taken in natural lighting in the children’s natural environment.

Conceptual Response

Not looking at the context before hand- I think that this image was taken to show children who have to live in poverty due to countries being at war. And the hold in the wall acts as the subject matter of the image as the hole shows how war has effected the children.

Contextual Response

This image was taken in 1933 right before the Spanish civil war which is sad due to the children playing in the last wars wreckage and now they will have to experience another war.

Planning my photo shoot 

I will be capturing my ‘ Street Photography’ images in town during the late afternoon. I will be walking around looking for interesting characteristics. The lighting will be natural and i will keep my camera setting on a manual focus due to wanting to have a quick shutter speed so i can take many images. I plan to be very discrete so i can capture people unaware and just doing the tasks they would normally carry out. I will also do this same plan in the passenger seat of a car.

Contact sheets

Best outcomes

Technical analysis 

In this street photography experiment, i used a  Canon EOS 1300 D and the image was taken in Manual Focus. Using Manual focus allowed me to change the white balance to cloudy as this image was taken in natural light, as well as being able to change the shutter speed to 1/250 and experiment with the zoom lens.

Visual analysis

Visually we can see that the man seems to be waiting for something as he has his hands in his pockets. He also seems a little annoyed that he see’s a camera pointing at him which we can tell by his frowned face.