Shooting indoors with natural light?

12 years 4 weeks ago #220751 by OleanderGal
Ok so I feel pretty sheepish asking this since I have been shooting for years and maybe I should know this already, but I've dealt mainly indoors with studio light, or outdoors with natural light. Now I'm looking into trying out boudoir shots, I'm seeing a lot of images that look lovely with natural light in bedrooms.

I want to try it but it seems problematic, especially if you are going to an unfamiliar house where you don't know when the sun will be optimal for a particular room.

Do you think my camera is good enough to pull it off or are the images I'm seeing shot with much better equipment than mine? Is there a method to fake the all natural light look with flash in addition to natural light if it's not working out for me?

I have a Canon 60D and my best lens for low light is an 85mm f1.8 USM. Though that might be too zoomed in for small bedrooms...

Thanks folks!

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12 years 4 weeks ago #220752 by Stealthy Ninja
I'd just see the window as a soft box. Then you can use a reflector for fill if need be.
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12 years 4 weeks ago #220836 by Henry Peach

OleanderGal wrote: Do you think my camera is good enough to pull it off or are the images I'm seeing shot with much better equipment than mine?

Is there a method to fake the all natural light look with flash in addition to natural light if it's not working out for me?

I have a Canon 60D and my best lens for low light is an 85mm f1.8 USM. Though that might be too zoomed in for small bedrooms...


Your camera body is more than enough. You probably need a lens that allows you to work in a smaller area if you are going into homes. I would assume that many of the shots you are looking at are using some degree of photographer adjusted lighting. It could be a simple as a sheet over the window and as complicated as a full studio set up. Some of that equipment could be pretty fancy, but there are ways to do without. If I were going into homes to shoot boudoir portraits at all times of day I would assume that I was going to need to control the lighting. If I found good available lighting I'd use it, but I wouldn't count on it.

Study the characteristics of natural lighting: direction, softness or hardness, color, intensity.... Adjust your artificial lighting in the same way, and it will look like natural light.
The following user(s) said Thank You: OleanderGal
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12 years 4 weeks ago #220862 by FedererPhoto
I very much agree (again) with Henry. :goodpost:

Your camera is fine, though a full-frame camera would be nice because it'd let you get wider (if you are going to clients homes, you might end up in situations where a 85 on a crop body is way too tight). Different lenses might help here too -- I'm a nikon guy, but I assume there is something like a 35 1.4 or 28 1.4 or something on the Canon side. On a crop body, that'd be close to the standard 50mm.

If you have a full studio setup, you should be able to replicate 'natural light' just fine. Effectively just envision the window as one large softbox. That's almost exactly what any north-facing window is. Just dial down/up your contrast ratio as needed to get the look you are going for.

I would say that the '100% ambient' look is likely open for improvement through the careful placement of additional lights or reflectors. (fill, rim, etc)


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12 years 4 weeks ago #221013 by photobod
On dull days use your lights as the sun, barn doors can creat a slash of light, a soft box can create a full flood of sun light, on bright days use a net curtain or a soft blind at he window for your main light and a reflector on the other side for some fill. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

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"A good photograph is one that communicate a fact, touches the heart, leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it. It is, in a word, effective." - Irving Penn

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12 years 3 weeks ago #222529 by OleanderGal
Thanks everyone that's some good information. I guess the bottom line is hope for the best prepare for the worst. I tried some stuff out this weekend in different rooms in my house to practice and it was good for some confidence building. I guess sometimes you don't realize you get into ruts, it's good to expand shooting techniques.

Now if the client has an ugly house... god help me!

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