Many photographers choose to use lots of strobes, lighting equipment. I see it all the time in Austin. I have even seen it outside and in the middle of the day. Although this technique is wildly used; I feel like lighting your subjects naturally using little or NO artifical lighting shows a more in-tune photograph overall. I have seen some wonderful pictures using extra lights and screens however for myself as an old school style photographer, I feel this is too much extra to get something you can obtain without wasting the extra energy of setting up and tearing down equipment. This saves time, money and possibly a rushed client.
My perferred way of doing natural lighting is to start off by working with what light of day you are in. Is it noon, dusk, dawn or night? All of these have wonderful effects on people's faces, clothing etc. For example:
A bride to be in a white/off-white gown will not only give you natural extra softing light from the reflection of light that bounces off her dress but this will give photographers high key lighting that is sometimes hard to obtain and time consuming using strobes (setting up and tearing down). I have obtained this using natural window lighting inside and outside during dusk hours.
As far as Dawn/ Dusk lighting you can obtain soft orange glow lighting easily without using screens, filters, etc in the wake of using mother nature as your full light source. The sun creates some wonderful and colorful glows of orange, reds, purples, pinks and blues. I have used this in doing nature photographs and silloutes of people and places. Texas has some wonderful sunsets here and are always a great focal point of many nature photographers.
Night photography can be a little tricky and tough to say the least! However, if you use the lighting around you and full moons you can create some nite shots that are to say the least, take your breath away. One technique I have learned and use sometimes is a very very sloow shutter speed and wide open apature setting. Usually keeping your camera open for thirty seconds or more can create light writing, glowing in the moonlight as the waves of the beach come crashing to the shore and you can visibily see all this when the photo is done taking. Very interesting as with no or little lighting you can create fantasy night photos. If you have a bride/groom that is patient and trys this process of maybe dancing into a low lit scene and back out will have a wonderful ghosting image of them which looks like they are trapped in time.
Practing these techniques are a great way to naturally learn how to manipulate your camera and what it sees so that your creations can be one of a kind and have much more of a natural feeling rather than a standard well light photo you see all the time.
Have fun and try these at home today!
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