I’ve gotten a few emails asking me about lighting and how I light my subjects during a session.  I feel a little odd talking about lighting because I don’t feel like I am an expert on the subject by any means.  But, I can tell you what I do and what I look for, and what works for me.  Basically, I keep things simple.  I use all natural light, because that is my favorite, and provides me with the vibrancy that I love.

*First, I schedule all my sessions about an hour and a half before sunset.  That gives the best light, as it is a little softer and not as harsh as middle of afternoon sunlight.

*Second, I look for shaded areas.  I get out of the direct sunlight.

*Third, I almost always try to backlight my subjects.  So I am looking for trees, or a building or something that will be between my subject and the sun, but still allow light to shine through.  I’m basically looking for a natural diffuser.

Once I find that natural diffuser, I place my subject with their back towards the sun and I am facing and shooting into the sun.  As of right now, I do not use any reflectors.  I usually have enough ambient light to give me a nice catchlight in the subjects eyes.

For example, here is Victoria.  The sun was setting behind a bunch of trees.  The leaves allowed for some light to get through, so I placed her in front of the trees with the sun behind her.  It gave her a little glow, and I just love that look!  Below the picture I list the lens I used and my settings.

50mm f/1.2 lens.  ISO 320 – f/1.8 – 1/400 sec

Here are a few more shots where I place my subject in front of trees, or bushes

85mm f/1.8 lens.  ISO 160 – f/1.8 – 1/200 sec

This is the same location and camera settings as above, but a little wider view, so you can see where the sun is.

Again, the sun is behind the subject, peeking through the tree.

50mm f/1.2 lens.  ISO 160 – f/1.8 – 1/200 sec

Here are a few images where I used something other than trees/shrubs to be the natural diffuser.  This one the light was shining through the slots in the barn, so I placed my subject with her back towards the sun.  There was plenty of open light shining on her from the front (behind me) to illuminate her without needing a reflector.

50mm f/1.2 lens.  ISO 320 – f/2.5 – 1/400 sec

50mm f/1.2 lens.  ISO unknown (can’t find all the metadata) – f.3/2 – 1/125 sec

Another thing I look for is an overhang or a porch… something to where I can put my subject under a roof or overhang, but still have enough light pouring in on them from the front with out being harsh.  In this picture, we are in a room that had 3 walls and roof.  I placed her as far forward as I could (not deep into the room) so light would hit her, but still under the roof.  I love this look because the room behind doesn’t get as much light, and therefore is darker, which makes my subject standout from the background….  I hope that description makes sense!

50mm f/1.2 lens.  ISO 125 – f/2.2 – 1/100 sec

When the sun is just about to set, it gets really soft to where I can take my subject out of the shade and have the sun shining directly on them without producing harsh shadows.  In the following picture, the subject was facing the setting sun (my back was facing the sun).  I did have to bump up my ISO to get the correct exposure, as we were loosing light.

50mm f/1.2 lens.  ISO 640 – f/1.8 – 1/160 sec

So there is my lighting techniques in a nutshell.  I hope this helps!  Please let me know if you have any questions!!!