Natural Light

Many photographers use natural light, as opposed to off camera lighting or flash, in their sessions. I used to be one of them. It’s easier, in that you don’t have to lug around a ton of equipment while walking around your session area. But over the last year or two, I have found it to be more restricting to only use natural light. You’re limited to only using the available light, even when the skies are grey and flat, leaving you with grey and flat, unflattering photos. On the flip side, when the sun is bright in the sky, you have to watch out for shadows and not be able to fill those shadows on the subject’s skin with an off camera flash.
On this day, I decided to test myself. I took my 9 year old daughter out to walk a nearby trail and see what I could come up with at 10am. It helped that we found some shady spots that had beautiful backlight. The challenge was in the constantly changing available light and making the proper adjustments in camera. Also, in posing an overly active 9 year old who didn’t have much interest in listening to her mother!

Stay tuned for Part II when I write about shooting my 16 year old daughter during the Golden Hour with off camera flash. We had a lot of fun!