Pocket Windows: A Seven-Day Practice for Finding Small Windows of Light

Why chase small windows of light?

Big golden hours are lovely and dramatic, but most of our days are stitched together by small, fleeting pockets of light. Those little windows — a beam hitting a counter, a face lit through a gap in curtains, a shaft through a doorway — have an intimacy and specificity that big light sometimes washes away. They ask us to notice and to compress a scene into a single decisive sliver. This seven-day practice trains you to see those moments and gives you simple ways to photograph them well.

How to use this practice

Spend a day on each prompt. You don’t need a lot of time: 10–30 minutes of looking and shooting will do more than an hour of scrolling. The goal is not a perfect portfolio shot every time, but to build a habit: spot a small light, ask two compositional questions, make the picture. Carry a phone or a compact camera. If you have a larger camera, great — use it when the moment benefits from lenses or control.

Gear, settings, and mindset

Phone or mirrorless: both work. Key ideas:

1) Meter for the highlight or the shadow, depending on the mood you want. Expose for the bright patch to keep its texture, or underexpose slightly to preserve atmosphere.

2) Use a wide aperture if you want the light to float against a soft background. Stop down for more context and texture.

3) Move around. Little lights change shape and meaning based on angle. A five-degree shift can turn a stripe into a frame.

4) Look for edges, texture, and color contrasts. A tiny square of light on a rough wooden table tells a different story than the same light on glass.

Day 1 — The Coffee Patch

Find a small patch of light on a table or countertop and make it the subject. Place a mug, book, or plant partly in the light and partly in shadow. Ask yourself: what story does the edge of the light tell? Tight crops work well here; focus on texture and the transition from bright to dark.

Day 2 — The Curtain Gap

Wait for the thin sliver of sunlight that sneaks through curtains or blinds. Capture the line as a compositional element — it can be a leading line or a divider that separates two moods within the frame. Use a shallow depth of field to emphasize the line against a softened interior.

Day 3 — Doorway Spotlight

Stand in a doorway or corridor and look for a small pool of light on the floor or wall. This is your chance to include people — hands, feet, a shoulder, or an implied figure. Crop low and let the light act as a stage spotlight. If there’s motion, try a slightly slower shutter to suggest movement through the aperture of light.

Day 4 — Reflections and Flakes

Small lights often appear as tiny highlights on reflective surfaces: a spoon, a wet street, a teacup rim. Make these micro-reflections the star. Look for patterns — a row of catchlights, a broken sparkle across texture. Get close, change angle, and play with symmetry or deliberate asymmetry.

Day 5 — Backlight Portrait Fragments

Use a compact backlight to separate a subject fragment from the background. It could be hair catching light, the rim of a hand, or a collar edge. Keep the exposure low to keep the scene moody; the bright rim will define the shape. This is intimate storytelling: you’re suggesting a person without showing everything.

Day 6 — Streetlight Pockets

After sunset, look for artificial pockets of light on sidewalks, under awnings, or across shop windows. These small swaths of light are great for contrast, color shifts, and narrative hints. Use higher ISO if needed, but keep shutter speed in mind if there's motion. Mono or desaturated edits often make these scenes feel more cinematic.

Day 7 — The Unexpected Break

Spend the day simply looking for surprises: a cloud gap, light through leaves that makes a dappled square, a ray on a stair tread. The point of Day 7 is to collect a portfolio of small discoveries. Try making a triptych of three-pocket-light images that feel like a visual conversation.

Quick editing and sequencing tips

When you review your images, give priority to images that communicate a clear focal point of light. Crop to strengthen the light’s role. Boost contrast in the midtones and highlights to make the patch read, but don’t crush the shadows — keep enough detail to suggest depth. A little clarity or texture on the lit surface can make tactile details pop.

Small exercises to repeat

1) Shoot one small light scene in three different exposures: highlight, mid, and shadow-biased. Compare which feels truest to the moment.

2) Make a series of five images where the light stays the same but you change the subject in it (cup, hand, book, plant, shoe).

Good photos often start as good noticing. Small windows of light are training wheels for seeing: they teach you to prioritize, to simplify, and to love one bright thing in a messy world.

If you try this week, I’d love to see what you find. Tag @waffle.pics or drop a line — there’s always something wonderfully particular about the way light chose you that day.