# natural indoor light north, south, east or west?



## nikonusersince2007 (Feb 3, 2012)

For an indoor natural light studio setup (portraiture):
1. Is it best to have natural light coming from the North, South, East or West (illuminating model)?
2. Is it best to have indirect natural light or direct natural light?
3. Use a reflector to bounce natural light back onto model; position facing window on oposite side of model?

Thanks for the feedback


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## jowensphoto (Feb 3, 2012)

All light is natural light. I think you mean ambient light.

I'm not sure that it matters which direction it comes from, but if you're talking about the sun, it's only coming from 3 directions: East, West, or right above. What's more important is time of day. Reasearch "Golden Hour"

What do you mean by indirect vs direct? I'm confused on that one, so I can't offer and suggestions.

As far as the reflector, if there are certain parts of the model that need some fill light (ie: face), then yes, by all means use it.


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## Blackjack (Feb 4, 2012)

North light is preferred by artists who use the sun to illuminate their subjects. The artists referred to as the Old Masters used north light. See: Rembrandt


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## EIngerson (Feb 8, 2012)

Blackjack said:


> North light is preferred by artists who use the sun to illuminate their subjects. The artists referred to as the Old Masters used north light. See: Rembrandt



^^^^^^ This. Simply put, the sun shines mostly from the North.


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## MReid (Feb 8, 2012)

North by East
Sun, here anyway, travels east to west mostly along the southern sky. So the indirect light you get on the east through the nw sides is better then the light from the s or west sides....generally.


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## KmH (Feb 8, 2012)

EIngerson said:


> Blackjack said:
> 
> 
> > North light is preferred by artists who use the sun to illuminate their subjects. The artists referred to as the Old Masters used north light. See: Rembrandt
> ...


Actually, in the northen hemisphere the Sun shines mostly from the southern part of the sky.

The reason light from north facing windows is preferred is the light is more constant through out the day, because the sun spends very little time in the northern part of the sky in the northern hemisphere for most people.

How much time the Sun spends in the northern part of the sky depends where in the northern hemisphere the north facing window is.

This time of year, any window north of the arctic circle is dark 24 hours a day, because the Sun never rises above the southern horizon.
Here in Iowa at a latitude of about N 42° latitude the Sun only gets about 40° above the southern horizon.
At lower latitudes the Sun is higher in the southern sky.


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## kundalini (Feb 8, 2012)

North by Northwest


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## Sw1tchFX (Feb 8, 2012)

Duplicate thread informs nothing the first didn't already.


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