Overcast Day Light-5

Controlling the Quality of Light
The next image sequence shows how the quality of light can be changedby placing your subject outside, just a bit inside, or far inside the tunnel of light. These shots were taken on a partly cloudy day. There was some bluesky showing overhead, but clouds obscured the sun at the time the photographswere taken.

For the first shot (1-14), the subject stood on the front lawn at the entranceto a house. The overhead soft light made his eyes dark and gave himthe notorious bags under the eyes that always result from an overcast day.For the second shot (1-15), the subject was moved back about ten feetto sit on the steps of the front porch. Since the porch blocked a lot of theoverhead light, the light became more directional from the front. You cansee that there is less light on the top of the subject’s head and his eyes aremore brightly lit.

1-15. Moving the subject under the overhang of the porchmade the light more directional from the front. 

For the next shot in the sequence (1-16), the subject was moved evenfurther back to stand about a foot inside the now opened doorway. Thelight came entirely from the front, but it still remained soft. The eyes receivedmuch more light than in the previous two shots. Note that the interiorwalls of the house were several stops darker than the subject, being ten feet from the open door light source. Only a window in a back roomis visible in the image.

1-16. The subject is even further back, just inside the doorway.The light becomes even more directional from thefront. 

1-17. Light from an open door becomes higher in contrastas the subject moves further away from it. 

For the final shot (1-17; previous page), the subject moved further back(another eight feet) until he was completely inside thehouse. The light source was still the open front door. However,because he was further away from it, the light sourcewas smaller in relation to him. Notice the increased contrastin the quality of light that this distance created. Asmaller light source produces harder light and higher contrast.Also, when compared to the previous shot, note that exposure of theroom itself has changed in relation to the subject. Since the subject andwalls are about the same distance from the open front door, they both receivethe same exposure.

So which is the best shot? It’s up to you to decide which of these setupswould work for you and your subject. Some faces look better with very softlight. Others look best with a harder, higher contrast light. You could alsotry this same series with your subject turned 90 degrees to the light to createsoft or hard side lighting. It’s all just light from an overcast day and youcan control it.