Window Light, Window Days: Photographing the Hours Inside

A week's worth of window portraits — of light, not people

Windows are cheap studios. They’re predictable enough to rely on and full of small surprises if you pay attention. Over a week, I used the same east-facing kitchen window as a subject, a light source, and a collaborator. No fancy kit, just a camera (phone or otherwise), three simple rules, and the intention to notice.

Why commit to one window?

Limiting yourself fixes two problems at once: it removes decision fatigue and sharpens observation. You stop asking where to shoot and start asking how the light changes, how objects react, and what moments the window lets slip by unnoticed. The practice is less about the view and more about the passage of time and the subtleties of indoor light.

The three rules I used

1. Use the same window for every shot during the week.
2. Make at least one deliberate exposure a day — no quick scroll-and-snap.
3. Try one composition exercise each day (listed below).

Daily composition exercises

These are bite-sized prompts to keep you curious.

• Day 1 — Negative space: shoot an object against a large area of wall or sky through the window.
• Day 2 — Frame within a frame: use the window panes, curtain, or sill to create a border.
• Day 3 — Reflections: look for mirrors, glass, or glossy surfaces that multiply the light.
• Day 4 — Motion: introduce a slow shutter or intentional blur — a moving curtain, falling leaf, or pouring tea.
• Day 5 — Close-up texture: let the camera get intimate with a surface lit by the window.
• Day 6 — Shadow shapes: photograph just the shadows the window makes on a surface.
• Day 7 — Sequence: make three images that tell a tiny story about the same scene at different times.

Practical settings and gear (keep it simple)

Phone cameras are perfectly capable. If you use a mirrorless/DSLR, consider these starting points:

• Aperture: f/2.8–f/8 depending on desired depth of field.
• Shutter: 1/60s for handheld stills, slower (use a tripod) for motion blur.
• ISO: keep it low (100–400) for cleaner files; don’t fear higher ISO if you need it.
• White balance: try Auto, then experiment with cooler or warmer presets to match the mood.

Composition notes I found useful

After a few days the same patterns kept surfacing. Here are the habits worth stealing.

• Look for diagonals. A strip of sunlight crossing a table becomes a leading line that suggests the hour.
• Use scale to set mood. A tiny object in a vast pool of light feels lonely; a cluster of small things feels lived-in.
• Think in pairs. Window light likes to pair with shadow. The relationship often carries the emotional weight of the frame.

Annotating one shot

Here’s a quick breakdown of a simple image I made on Day 3. Imagine: a ceramic mug on the sill, morning light from the left, a faint reflection on the glass, and a soft shadow stretching right.

1. Subject: ceramic mug. Why? Because it catches highlight and tells us there’s human presence without showing a person.
2. Light: side-lit, creating a rim highlight and a long shadow. This gives shape and depth.
3. Composition: mug sits on the left third; shadow occupies the negative space to the right. The window frame acts as a stabilizing rectangle.
4. Camera settings: 1/125s, f/4, ISO 200 — enough depth to keep the mug sharp, shallow enough to blur the background slightly.
5. Emotion: quiet, early-morning pause. The mug becomes an index of a ritual rather than a product shot.

Editing: a light touch

My go-to adjustments for window shots are modest: exposure, contrast, and clarity. Lift the shadows a touch if you want to reveal texture, or deepen them if you prefer mood. Cropping is where a lot of improvement happens — try tightening the frame to remove distractions and emphasize the light. Resist the urge to over-filter; the charm of these images is their honesty.

Small experiments that pay off

Try these when you want a quick creative nudge.

• Hold a translucent object (a teabag, tissue) in front of the window and shoot the diffused glow.
• Open and close the curtains between shots to see how hard and soft light alter textures.
• Place a piece of colored plastic on the sill to paint the scene with a tint of color from the window’s edge.

Final thought — keeping the practice alive

Photography is mostly learning to see the ordinary as if for the first time.

By the end of the week the window stopped being just a source of light and started feeling like a character with moods. You’ll find that the most repeatable, rewarding practice is the one that makes you look more carefully at what’s already nearby. Keep one corner of home as your visual lab and let the tiny variations be your teacher.

If you try this, pick one day to make a three-image sequence — morning, noon, evening — and let me know what changed. The window remembers more than we do, and it’s patient with photographers who come back every day.