![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/technique\/Nicole-e508-900.jpg\")
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A recent post on using off-camera flash<\/a>, the question came up about how I work when I’m on my own and don’t have an assistant holding up a softbox.\u00a0\u00a0 Using off-camera lighting does make your options easier in how you position your subject, since\u00a0it is much easier to\u00a0have great portrait lighting on your subject.\u00a0\u00a0 By adding light to your subject with the flash & softbox combination, you have the freedom to be less concerned about perfect light on your subject.<\/p>\n When I work on my own, I approach things differently.\u00a0 I now have to not only consider how I place my subjects in relation to the background, but also consistently look at\u00a0the light on my subject.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n With an on-location portrait shoot a while back, the session was for 1:30 – 3pm while the sun was overhead.\u00a0 And from experience we all know that with the sun overhead that it isn’t the most ideal conditions to take photos under, especially portraits ..You may well wonder why I had scheduled a photo session for that time of day.\u00a0 It was all due to a misunderstanding between myself and my client – she was under the impression that we needed bright sunlight, and I was under the impression this was the only time they were available for the photo session on the day.\u00a0 When I arrived at the gardens of the estate, my heart sank … the sun was harsh, with very little place to hide from the sun.\u00a0 But I had to do better than just cope, and come up with great photographs for my clients in less-than-ideal light.<\/p>\n It just meant I had to work harder in how I positioned them for the photos.\u00a0 I usually take particular care about the backgrounds in my images, but I am also particular about having even and flattering light on my subject’s faces.\u00a0 The simplest approach here is to have your subject turn their backs to the sun, and have even (shaded) light on their face, and if possible, find some way to shield the hard sun falling on them.<\/p>\n It does imply that I let go of some scenes which would’ve made great images on other occasions – But\u00a0not this time.\u00a0 I had to deal with hard sunlight and as mentioned, I had to find interesting or neutral backgrounds, and then place my subject in relation to that … and still make sure the available light falling on them is flattering.<\/p>\n With the sun high up like that, and to their backs, it does give a\u00a0rim-light effect.\u00a0\u00a0In this case though, it isn’t a subtle effect,\u00a0and does mean that certain parts (shoulders and top of their heads) will be blown out.\u00a0 But I can\u00a0accept that as long as the light\u00a0falling on their faces looks good.\u00a0 In the image at the top, I did use some of the dappled light from the blossoming trees to help break the light falling on them from above.\u00a0 But I also had them lean slightly forward to help reduce the amount of direct sunlight falling on their shoulders and the top of their heads.<\/p>\n I do use a touch of fill-flash often in situations like this, using direct flash but dialing my TTL flash exposure down to around -3EV<\/a> (or maybe as low as -5EV with the Nikon SB-900 speedlight<\/a>.)<\/p>\n It might be a simple approach, but it is harder work than using off-camera lighting to help you out in this case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" taking photos in hard sunlight \/ mid-day sun A recent post on using off-camera flash, the question came up about how I work when I’m on my own and don’t have an assistant holding up a softbox.\u00a0\u00a0 Using off-camera lighting does make your options easier in how you position your subject, since\u00a0it is much easier Read more inside…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[140,42],"tags":[690],"yst_prominent_words":[4496,2071,1393,4155,2961,4149,1140,1583,1587,1143,1315,1554,7981,1145,1146,1343,6988,8045,8046,8043],"class_list":{"0":"post-1718","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-available-light-photography","8":"category-technique","9":"tag-taking-photos-in-hard-sunlight","10":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1718"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1718"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41016,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1718\/revisions\/41016"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1718"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/technique\/Nicole-e252-900.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n– either with softer available\u00a0light (whether shooting later in the day.\u00a0 (Much earlier in the day isn’t an option for a night-owl like me),
\n– or by using additional off-camera lighting.<\/p>\n