I'd originally taken it nearly four years ago only as a snapshot for texture references , and not for anything artistic or compositionally driven. In this way, the lighting was completely natural and was pretty much as close as one could get to looking at things as they are and just capturing that site.
I observed the image more and also tried to make mental notes ever time I saw diffuse light in real life. I tried to pick out what gave such lighting its qualities: color, intensity, spread, its shadows, the bounced light, and its interaction with surfaces of various mattes and glosses. In this image, the window was a translucent glass that diffused the sunlight and spread it evenly around. I noticed how the specular highlights on surfaces such as the linoleum table top and floor were very wide, and how the dirt and scuffs on the floor looked very flat. The shadows were all very soft, and rather than lighting helping to outline the profile of objects, color was more responsible.
I also looked at a stock photo of a rather pristine environment (as opposed to the worn and grungy one I'd photographed) from the internet as a way to help myself better understand diffuse light:
Although the objects were all very clean and polished, I still saw many of the same properties as in the other image. Shadows were very soft; although the chair and counter's shadows are clearly being cast, they are all very transparent and are not bold and sharp. The lighting is still very even across all surfaces; the refrigerator door to the left and the lower-right floor are both good examples. Considering that this was a professional photograph, it still displayed qualities that my simple snapshot did.
I took my observations into consideration as I tried to figure out what my 3D lighting and 2D compositing approach would be.
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