Random Glow

Points of warm light hang at every distance from the lens. Some resolve as bulbs, some become soft discs, and the frame gains depth without anything having to move through it.

The scattered placement is what makes it feel found rather than lit. Lights arranged on a grid read as a set. Lights at odd heights and distances read as a place somebody strung them up.

Bokeh is the shape an out of focus point of light takes, and it comes from the aperture. A wide open lens gives round discs, and a stopped down one gives polygons with as many sides as the iris has blades.

Depth is the whole trick. Bulbs near the lens blow into large soft discs, mid distance ones stay recognisable, and far ones sit as small hard points. All at one distance gives a flat wall of dots.

The glow wraps the subject when a bulb sits between the camera and the face, because the light spills across the edge of the frame's sharpest plane and softens the outline.

Use it for night exteriors, markets, festivals and portraits that need warmth without a formal lighting setup.

Skip it when the background has to be read. Every bulb is a bright distraction, and text or faces behind them will lose.

Light Leak is a fault in the camera body. Light gets in where it should not and fogs the film along one edge, usually as a warm streak bleeding in from the side of the frame.

The check is where the light sits. Discrete points scattered through the scene mean Random Glow. A continuous streak entering from the frame edge and fogging the emulsion means Light Leak.

All the bulbs land at one distance and the result is a flat wall of dots, which is the trap the entry warns about. Say the lights sit at many depths, and name near, middle and far.

The other failure is a single strong source doing the lighting. Ban a single source and even light, and ask for the glow to wrap the face from the nearest bulbs.