Re-creating Window Light Any-time Easily

On this video Daniel Norton from Adorama demonstrates how to easily (and inexpensively) recreate the look of a window light with one strobe, any time of day and in any environment.

Window light can be beautiful however sometimes it is impossible to use (if you are shooting at the wrong time of day, at a place without large (or any) windows or you simply want to control the precise amount of light that you are going to use in each shot and not be time constrained by the sun/clouds etc.

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In this video Notron shows how to recreate the window look in a pretty inexpensive way – all you need is a light source – a strobe or even a speelight or two should do fine. What you need to do is build a large cardboard box and put your light source inside – on the front of this box you will have your “window” which Norton made out of a scrimjim (6×3 foot) although you can probably make it out of a white thin fabric if you have no other option. It is suggested that you make the whole thing a bit higher so it will look like the light is not coming from the floor.

To fill the shadows you can use a white reflector on the other side or if you want a dramatic look – use a black fabric like Norton demonstrates in the last part of the video.

You can check out many more helpful photography tips on our Photography tips section here on LensVid as well as more specific lighting tips here.

Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.