The window-light guide
Everything you need to know about the only light source worth using, which you already own.
The rule
Never put your product in the patch of sun. Put it in the bright shade immediately next to the patch. Direct sun is a small, hard light source — it blows out highlights, crushes shadows, and makes a handmade object look cheap. The shade beside it is lit by the whole sky, which is the largest, softest light source available to anyone.
The distance
As close to the window as you can get without the product entering direct sun. Light falls off fast: a product one metre from the window gets roughly four times the light of one at two metres, and the closer it is, the softer the shadow edges. Most makers shoot from the middle of the room out of habit. Move the table.
The bounce
Put a sheet of white card on the opposite side from the window, angled back towards the product, about thirty centimetres away. This fills the shadow side and is the difference between a snapshot and a product photo. It costs about two pounds. If the shadow is still too dark, move the card closer, not the light.
The diffuser
If the window gets direct sun, tape baking parchment or pin a white bedsheet over it. You have now converted a hard light into a soft one for nothing. A bought diffusion panel does the same job no better.
The killer
Turn the ceiling light off. Mixing daylight with a warm bulb gives you two different colour temperatures in one frame, and no white-balance correction can fix both at once. One light source, always.
The best day
Overcast. A grey sky is a softbox the size of the sky, and it holds steady for hours instead of shifting every fifteen minutes. Professionals wait for it; you can just plan around it.
Want this for your product specifically?
The Photo Plan is the same thinking, applied to your material, with twelve framing diagrams drawn for your shots. $29.
See the Photo Plan