Move Away from the Window

If you have harsh sunlight coming through the window, one quick and easy thing you can do to get much better quality light is to simply move your subject farther away from the window. When your subject is right up close to the window, they are getting the full force of the light. Harsh city (as I mentioned earlier). So, by simply moving your subject farther away from the light, that harshness trails off, and the farther you get from the window, the softer and more beautiful the light becomes. Start by moving around six feet away from the window, and then take a test shot. Really take a look at the shadows falling on your subject’s face and make sure they’re soft shadows. If they’re still harsh, you’re not far enough away from the window. As you move away from the window, the light from it gets softer and more beautiful, but it also gets darker (just like it does when you walk away from a room lamp—the farther you are from the lamp, the darker the light gets, right?). So, just keep an eye on your shutter speed, so it doesn’t fall so low that you wind up with soft, beautifully-lit, but out-of-focus shots.