Window Light Portrait

Photographers take advantage of window light to create portraits, and long before photography, painters were making good use of window light. It can be beautiful light.

For window light portraits, I prefer bright, sunny days and a south facing window but I don’t always have that choice when working on location. In my studio I use a translucent blind over the window which creates soft, almost non-directional light with minimal shadows without reducing the quantity of the light too much. It works great for people of all ages.

For the location photo above, diminishing late afternoon light was coming in a west window. I closed the blinds to soften the light, but the thickness of the blinds significantly reduced the quantity of the light.  At my preferred aperture of f/8 and an ISO of 100 (for maximum image quality), the shutter speed was 0.6 second, just a hair over 1/2 second. The 2 week old infant was sleeping soundly so a slow shutter speed wasn’t a problem.  I placed him on his side, facing the blind covered window.

I put the lens and camera on a tripod, turned on mirror lock up (to minimize any vibration from mirror slap during the slow shutter speed), and used the two second self timer. With any brand of camera and a longer focal length lens, it is always advisable to use mirror lock up for shutter speeds from 1/30 second on down to 1/4 second and it doesn’t hurt to use mirror lock up at a shutter speed of 1/2 and 1 second for a little extra image sharpness insurance. Using a cable release or a self timer will keep you from jiggling the camera at the moment the shutter opens. A 100 mm focal length gave me a pleasing perspective.

More information on portraits, exposure, perspective, and getting maximum image sharpness and quality are in my book, Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies.

Photo Data: Canon 5D. Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS lens at 100 mm. f/8, 0.6 seconds, ISO 100.