Today’s post is for Project 52, a weekly blog project that I am working on with several other talented photographers whom I’ve come to know and love over the past year. In this project, we concentrate on light and spend several weeks exploring an overarching theme. This month we will be exploring diffuse light.  Diffuse or soft light is the opposite of hard light, which we worked on last November.  Where hard light was small compared to the subject, resulting in dark shadows, soft light is large compared to the subject and results in subtle to no shadows.  Overcast days, open shade, or the sky (as opposed to the sun itself) are examples of diffuse light sources.  Soft light is often the easiest light to use, because it lights your subject rather evenly, but it can sometimes be a little bit boring, a little bit safe.

In the below photo, although the light itself was quite diffuse – it was yet another cloudy day here in Seattle (and the rain lasted all day long!) – by positioning Alexa perpendicular to the window, I was able to get directional light anyway.

Please continue along in our creative blog circle to see the beautiful work of my friend Kim Dupree.  Kim is a wonderful photographer based in Texas, who is particularly known for her gorgeous senior portraits.  Click HERE to see Kim’s creative play on diffuse light.