Lighting is KEY to any good photo and gets especially tricky to use inside. I photograph with all natural light 95% of the time so sunny or cloud, tons of light or not, I work with what I get and pray to the weather gods for eternal sunshine.
On rainy days, you can’t coax me out of bed or my office for anything less than a doughnut or playing with babies. Thus, you can find me leaving my editing for indoor baby shoots or coffee with the promise of a doughnut.
Side note: What a life right? Where’s the worlds smallest violin when you need it!?
But what to do when it’s gloomy out and you’re thinking, where’s the light? How do you find it to take good, creative photos?
You follow it.
Where does the beautiful light come from in your house? The windows. So fling those windows open Beauty and the Beast style and sit your subject there in that beautiful light cascading in. Let the soft light illuminate your babe. How is it hitting their face? Is it fully lit up or just partially? Are they back lit in a silhouette? Circle them and look from all angles.
Take a few minutes and practice with your child taking photos of them just using the window light. Circle around them, back up, then get close. There are about a zillion and a half photos you could make with a single window and subject so play around and make them. Let your creative juices flow and then look at your photos afterward to see what you like, what worked and what didn’t!
I do this often with new lighting ideas, testing it out by doing a shark vs prey-style circling reenactment (haha). I find it helps to know what you’re working with and really focus on how you can bend the light to make it most interesting. Sometimes the new lighting works out great, sometimes not so much but at least I know I’m trying new things and making more art!
Now go and get your creative on! Share your photos that you take, post them on Instagram and hashtag #theauthenticportrait.
Looking for more easy tips and tricks to easily improve your photography? Purchase my eBook: The Authentic Portrait: A Parent’s Guide to Photographing Children HERE
