This was shot on a rainy day and to make the window light work, I added lighting.

Many times I am caught in a room on a cloudy or overcast day. The light from the window is just not enough.

To make the above photograph I put an Alienbees B1600 monobloc light with a white shoot through large umbrella just outside the professor’s window. To trigger the light I used the PocketWizard Plus II reciever and the PocketWizard Plus II Transmitter. 

Inside the light needed just a little help to keep the shadows from going too dark. To soften the shadows I put another Alienbees B1600 with just a bare-bulb on a light stand and put it as close to the ceiling as I could.

The outside light was on full power and the bare-bulb light inside was at 1/8 – 1/16th power.

Below is the lighting diagram for the setup.

Next time you need sunlight through a window and you don’t have a sunny day to help, use off camera flash to create it for you.