p.1 #1 · The best way outdoor portrait photography
I want you to take a portrait outside the home, what are the recommended hours of photography in terms of sun,
Should you shoot a shady garden, I noticed that the shade has an impact on the direction of light.
Should you take pictures with flash or Beauty Dish or Soft Box to Illuminate the face
p.1 #2 · The best way outdoor portrait photography
There is no one answer to the questions, since there is a lot of room for artistic decision-making. Each of the things you mention will affect the look of the portrait, but one is neccesarily better or worse than the others, just different.
Generally, morning or late afternoon are easier to light than mid day, because the lower light angle will not cast such strong shadows under chins and in eye sockets, but proper fill lighting can counter that even at high noon.
Shooting in the shade also generally yields lower contrast to the shadows, but it can mean too much range between the subject lighting and the background lighting if the background is in the sun.
Sometimes I shoot under only natural light, and sometimes I use additional light(s), whether those are reflectors, plain flash, or modified flash.
The best thing to do is to takes lots of photographs using all the methods you mentioned, and then decide which methods best fit the way you want your pictures to look.
p.1 #3 · The best way outdoor portrait photography
There are many books written on this subject, it's not a straightforward set of answers especially when weather is factored in.
Within 1.5hrs of sunrise or sunset direct sun can be used as main light. Outside this time if you shoot in direct sun get it behind the subject and use it as backlight because it is generally too hard. To use it as backlight find a dark background (shade) to shoot onto or you will end up with a white background (blowout), make sure the environment in front of the subject is reasonably bright or you will need some fill in with a reflector or flash.
Using shade the idea is stop the light coming directly down on your subject and coming in at a lower angle. The the edge of shade from trees or other other overhangs works well so you get a shadow and highlight side to the face ie. directional light. Watch out for very bright backgrounds blowing out.
With flash you get a bit more flexibility where you shoot but generally you want a 'blank canvas' so to speak in natural light terms which means sun behind your subject as backlight or shooting in the shade with no shadows on the face. This is because you are using your flash though a modifier as main light to create those shadows.
A good book on portrait lighting would be a good investment, then try some things out and if you get stuck post them here and people can help you.
p.1 #4 · The best way outdoor portrait photography
A day with full overcast offers huge, omnidirectional fill, and neutral color temperature. Then add the key light of your choice. Key/fill ratio is controlled by camera exposure setting and flash power. You can, of course, meter for camera exposure, but a rough calculation is ISO 100 EV 13, so 1/250s @ f/5.6.; any midrange strobe can provide key light at f/5.6. Use EV 12 for stronger fill (less drama). Advantage of this scheme is placing your subject freely to get a nice b/g. Disadvantage: you need a cloudy day.
p.1 #6 · The best way outdoor portrait photography
When shooting in natural sunny light, the golden hours are best (sunrise and sundown). Otherwise the contrast will be too harsh. When there is sun, place your subject with their backs to the sun and fill in their faces with either a strobe, reflector or speedlight. That way you will get a nice hairlight/rimlight.
If you have an overcast day, all this doesn't matter much, because the clouds will be your 'softbox'. Still, keep an eye on where the sun is coming from under those conditions and place the face towards the sun (which will be behind clouds). You can still fill in if you like to avoid 'racoon eyes'.
When shooting in the shades, I would use a direct artificial light source like a strobe or speedlight. Kind of like in the studio.
p.1 #7 · The best way outdoor portrait photography
Anytime can work for you once you master the lighting theory and you have proper lighting equipment. You can treat the natural light as one light source. Here are two samples in different time of a day.
It all starts having a clear idea in you head what kind of picture you're after and the trying to master the technique.
And IMO not the other way around by starting to ask what technique to use, only then to decide then what picture to take, as any variety may in expert hands will yield good pictures,
p.1 #11 · The best way outdoor portrait photography
I did shoot outdoor where we have strong sun but i was using a monolight strobe, beauty dish or umbrella because i can't carry i huge un-foldable softboxes with me in the car.
p.1 #12 · The best way outdoor portrait photography
Variations of open shade might be called broken sunlight (1st pic by Monet), and dappled sunlight (2nd pic by Renoir). These allow backlighting or direct lighting of the subject, while providing shadows for contrast against the b/g. My sample (3rd pic) shows dappled sunlight around noon with grazing rays on the face, and ambient fill.
p.1 #13 · The best way outdoor portrait photography
I respectfully disagree with dappled sunlight. It might look nice in paintings but but bright splodges of light on the subject is something I seek to avoid.
p.1 #15 · The best way outdoor portrait photography
Mark_L wrote:
I respectfully disagree with dappled sunlight. It might look nice in paintings but but bright splodges of light on the subject is something I seek to avoid.
Oct 21, 2011 at 01:38 AM