Light Observations

Inside my apartment: with snow and ice blanketing the parking lot and clouds covering the sky, the little light that seeps through the open window is soft; a luminescent glow fills the living room before fading into darkness in the kitchen. Because the glow is so soft, there does not seem to be much patterning, though the light tries to softly illuminate through the cracks of the window blinds. Also, the contrast is very low. My cat sits upon on the table by the window, staring out at the snowy abyss; her back is facing me and full of shadows, while her front is softly illuminated. It is almost as if the front of her body is glowing.

Outside my apartment, on the balcony: Still filled with clouds, the only source of light is tucked behind the overcast sky. There is very low contrast, no patterned light, and no pools of light. The lighting is very diffuse and only dully illuminating the snow and ice-covered parking lot. As it is late afternoon, there is no darkness, only lightness thanks to the white sky and ground. The light is bouncing off of each patch of snow, filling the entire space with just light and no shadows.

I included pictures of both situations but they actually don't do justice to the actual lighting of the scenes...