The topic today is the ability to control outdoor lighting. "Control sunlight?" you might ask, "Surely that isn't possible?" Let me assure you that it can be done. Obviously we can't move the sun, but we can do other things to alter the effect of light. Here's a run through some of my most used outdoor lighting techniques:
1) Gobos (and shelter). Tip #1: Run for cover.
If you haven't encountered gobos before, they're objects that alter light by blocking, coloring, or diffusing some portion of the beam before it reaches the lens. One of the better gobos to interact natural light with outdoors will be tree cover. Let's review why this could be better for your pictures; by having cover over your (photogenic) subject you can control the direction that light shines on your subject. What this does not mean is to stand your subject in complete shade! Otherwise you end up eliminating natural light and needing the support of artifical light (fill flash - more on this later). You'll also create a cove of green coloured light reflectors which casts a green glow to your images. Again more on this later.
What you aim for is light shining on your subject but from a direction dictated by the surroundings. In addition to direction control, light can also be mildly diffused. It can naturally provide that soft light that portraiture is often associated with. My artistic skills are pushed to the maximum with the diagram below that illustrates lighting control by cover.
Note that here I've illustrated the subject not entirely covered by the trees (see the bold above). We don't want the sunlight to be completely blocked from the subject.
And there we have it - a way of controlling the direction of sunlight! It's particularly useful in the dreaded midday sun. You can replace trees with any form of shelter over the head (gazebo, bus shelter...etc) hence tip #1: run for cover. Cover will give you much more control over light.
2) Fill flash and strobes.
A lot is covered in resources over how to use fill flash. I'll not cover that part except mention that it is useful and shouldn't be neglected. Deliberately underexpose the strobe if you're unsure of how much power is needed to prevent a washout. An added tip that isn't often mentioned is the combination of fill flash with a high shutter speed to cause a pleasant portrait with a dark background. I have no releasable examples of this, so you'll have to take my word...
Other fun things can be done with strobes outdoors beyond fill flashing. If your model has dark hair that blends into the background, why not try a strobe behind your model with a snoot or grid (both increase the intensity of a strobe light by concentrating it into a narrower beam - make sure you combine this by setting your strobe to a tele setting) and have it as a hairlight? This will create some dramatic contrast between the background and your subject.
If you don't have a strobe for a hairlight, then fear not. You can try an elementary form of rim lighting. Controlling the natural light with cover, you can use it as the hairlight, and then the on-board flash as fill.
Saving some material for the future we could apply crosslighting with one strobe. If you are able to control the direction of sunlight with cover, then a well-placed strobe facing directly into that sunlight with the subject in between the two sources can create this effect. It can be very dramatic. Again no releasable examples...
And no doubt you can do a websearch for other multiple lighting techniques in Y or T configurations, but they all work on the same priniciple - you need to be able to control lighting direction. If you haven't got the message by now, read and repeat tip#1 several times.
3) Reflectors (h)and towels.
Reflectors can be fabulous lifesavers. They're simple and a great way to redirect light. My most common uses are either to bounce strobe light (and diffuse it in the process), to place it on the lap of my subjects, or drop it in front of their feet. You may ask why the latter two? Well think of the outdoor environment as your studio. The floor may well be covered with nature's carpet - grass. And when light bounces off grass, it gives off green light. And green light isn't flattering unless you wish your subjects to look like Shrek. The placement of the reflector simply removes the green haze in some portraits and reduces difficult post-processing later.
And this goes back to my point earlier regarding tree cover. Complete shade under trees will essentially place your subject in a natural studio with greenish walls. Not particularly good for skin tones, if you ask me...
Now you might wonder why tree cover with light shining onto the subject won't cause the green cast. Well it does. But if your light hits the subject 1st on the face (as in portraiture) you don't have reflection from the green stuff. And so you don't get the casting on the face. For three-quarter or full length portraits, there may be a slight glow to the rest of the body but barely noticeable. If not, you'd be using...reflectors!
A wonderful alternative to a reflector is a white towel. I often have a white hand towel in my bag that serves this purpose (or to wipe sweat on those warm summer days). Small, compact, cheap and multipurpose; you can't ask more than that!
4) Good direction.
This follows on from an earlier post on directing models. Knowing how to move them in relation to light is important. There are many ways of doing this, but two things to remember are the following:
Tip#2 It's not a good idea to stand them facing directly into the sun as they are likely to squint. Exceptions: sunglasses, turning the head of your subject, or your subject isn't human...
Tip#3 Look where the shadows are. This also means your shadow!
Hopefully this brings some useful aids to outdoor portraiture. As always, comments are most certainly welcome, and I wish you happy snapping in the meantime.
2 comments:
Ah, great tips!
Beautiful diagram, I must say!
Only one other thing, would placing the model slightly in *front* of a cove of trees, to the point where the DOF looks better be pushing it to the max?
That is, would I get the same lighting under that circumstance?
Thank you Yatrik. You would want the model to be lit by some light. Of course it's possible to move the model further from the trees so long as you're not introducing multidirectional light. Then we, as photographers, lose control over lighting.
Does this help?
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