How to find good light for everyday photos

Good everyday light is usually soft, comes from one side of the subject and is not overhead on a bright, cloudless day. You can find it without buying anything. Look for a window with indirect light, the edge of open shade beside a large building or wall, or an overcast sky, and place your subject so the light falls gently across the face or object you are photographing.

The useful skill is noticing light before you start shooting. Stand in one spot, turn slowly and watch where the brightest areas are and where the shadows fall. Side light shows texture and shape. Light from behind can make a subject glow, but it often leaves the front dark. Light from the front is bright and even, but it tends to flatten the scene and make it look ordinary. Learning to recognize these three directions makes it easier to move yourself or your subject into a better position.

Read the direction of the light

Direction is your first choice, and it is often the cheapest one to change. Side light is especially rewarding for everyday subjects because raking light, which strikes the surface at a low angle, reveals texture in brick, fabric and bark. For a portrait, a common starting point is to place the face so the light falls at roughly forty-five degrees to the side and slightly above, which leaves a small triangle of light on the cheek on the shadow side. Turn your subject rather than only moving the camera until the light falls across the face at about that angle. A few degrees of movement often changes a picture more than changing lenses or settings.

A quick test helps you judge direction and softness without any equipment. Hold your hand in the light and look at the shadow it casts on a table or wall. A sharp, dark edge means the light is hard and probably comes from a small or distant source, while a faint shadow with a blurred border means the light is soft. Move your hand to see how the shadow shifts, since a shadow always falls away from the light. Repeat the test in each spot you consider, and choose the place where the shadow edges look gentle.

Pick the time of day

Time matters as much as position. In the middle of a clear day the sun sits high, which casts short, hard shadows under the eyes, nose and brow and makes colors look washed out. The hour or so after sunrise and the hour before sunset are often more flattering, because the sun is lower and its light is warmer. This period is often called the golden hour. Its length changes with the season and with your latitude, so check sunrise and sunset times for your location rather than relying on a fixed window. An overcast midday is a useful alternative, because clouds spread the light across the whole sky and soften the shadows.

Low sun also lengthens shadows, which can add drama to a scene but can also throw your own shadow across the subject. When you stand between the sun and the subject, check whether your shadow darkens the face or the object. A step to one side usually moves it out of the way.

Work with window light

A window is one of the best free light sources you have. Place the subject at an angle to the glass rather than directly in front of it, so the light falls across the face or object instead of flattening it. If direct sun streams through, hang a sheer curtain or move the subject back until the bright patches soften. Light weakens quickly as distance grows, so standing close to the window gives brighter light that is still soft. Watch for a bright window in the background, which can trick the camera into exposing for the window and leaving the subject too dark. The window's orientation decides the best time to shoot. An east-facing window gets direct sun in the morning and a west-facing window gets it in the afternoon, so those are the hours when strong sun is most likely to reach the glass. A window that stays out of direct sun, such as a north-facing window in the northern hemisphere or a south-facing one in the southern hemisphere, gives soft light for most of the day. If your window does get direct sun, shoot when the sun has moved away from it, when a neighboring building blocks it, or on an overcast day. If the far side of the face falls dark, fill it with a reflector, as described below.

Use open shade and bounce light

Open shade gives soft, even light outdoors. Move your subject into the shadow cast by a building, wall or large tree, but avoid standing under a tree, where gaps in the leaves create a patchy pattern called dappled light. Open shade can look cool and bluish in a photo, so check the white balance if skin tones seem off. If the shadow side of a face is too dark, bounce some light back into it. A white card, a sheet of white poster board, a light-colored wall or a folded piece of white paper held at the right angle works well. Hold the reflector low and angled toward the shadow, and move it until the shadow softens but the face still has some shape.

Once you start noticing light, you will find it in more places than you expected, including kitchens, stairwells and the edges of parks. The goal is not perfect light, but light that suits your subject. Photograph the same subject at two or three times of day and compare the results side by side. That simple exercise teaches more about light than any description, and it makes every later photo more deliberate.