4 Simple Natural Light Photography Styles To Use Indoors

Natural light photography, or photography using window light, is a free and timeless lighting style. We’d like to show you how to effortlessly control the look and feel of your images by being mindful of the position of your camera and light source. By choosing the position of the camera relative to the light source, you can capture light that is soft, contrasty, in silhouette, or covered in texture.

Why Natural Light Photography Styles?

These photography styles are incredibly effective regardless of which DSLR, mirrorless, film, or smartphone camera you use. Natural light photography will help you create authentic imagery no matter if you’re photographing products for e-commerce, portraits, food, pets or anything else indoors using window light.

Read below to unleash the potential of natural light photography in your home photo studio. Don’t miss our last section on how to use artificial plants to create shadows.

Soft Light Photography

This type of light is inviting, and it’s typically very flattering for portrait photography. Soft light can be identified by a gradual shift from bright to dark areas of an image.

This is the light quality seen in lofts, created by large windows. On cloudy days, the light will look even softer. To control how soft your natural window light is, use window curtains to diffuse the light entering the room.

The shadows in this image are barely visible. Notice how the wall slowly changes from white to grey, from left to right. This indicates that there is a very large light source illuminating the room.

The smooth, gradually shifting shadows are a clue that this image was lit by soft natural light

Soft light from large windows can make a room feel inviting.

The soft light in this image creates painterly cloud-like shadows.

Backlight Photography

Backlight photography simply means that the light is behind the subject. Backlit images will typically have a sharp falloff from bright to dark areas, also known as contrast.

In order to create a backlit image, aim the camera into the sun or window, and place your subject in between the lens and the light source.

This lighting technique creates drama, adds highlights and shadows, and brings out the texture, shape, and features of your subject. This can create a silhouette, turning 3D objects into 2D shapes.

Note: this can be an ineffective lighting technique if you’re trying to make your subjects face visible! If you’re creating an undesired shilouette, simply switch places with your subject. Place the main window light behind the camera when framing your scene.

This photo is a great example of how backlighting can bring out the shape of your subject.

This backlit bottle has an eye-catching highlight on the top of the dropper.

We really like the textured light refractions (also known as caustics!) near the bottom of the bottle.

The backlight on the curtains draws attention to the detailed embroidery.

This striking silhouette makes the model pop off of the background.

The texture on the top of the bottle and the diamond shapes at the handle are clearly visible in this photograph because of the backlight.

This scene is a mix of backlight and sidelight, our next natural photography light style.

Sidelight Photography

Sidelight is a mix of front light and backlight. This is what the light will look like when placed to the left or right of the subject. Lighting from the side of the subject brings out a lot of depth. By creating a lot of space between bright and dark areas, sidelight photography brings out the midtones.

The sidelight in this photograph makes the drone look three dimensional. Notice how the light changes from right to left.

The natural light sweeping from the left to the right of the frame gives the dog a lifelike appearance.

The gradient of the hat fading into darkness creates a very defined shape and a dynamic range of color, blending soft red colors into darkness.

Textured Lighting

Textured light is created when objects are placed in between your subject and their light source, creating shadows. These are most commonly created by window frames, or by adjusting window blinds. This is also known as gobo lighting, or go between lighting.

This is a great example of how window frames can create interesting lighting textures on your subject.

Textured lighting created by window blinds are a simple way to elevate your at home ecommerce photography studio’s imagery.

Artificial Plants

Want to create your own textured shadows? Here’s a collection of fake or artificial plants that you can use to create organic feeling shadows. This is an easy way to add to interest to a natural photography light image, whether you’re photographing objects or portraits.

We hope you enjoyed these 4 simple natural light photography styles to use indoors!