Introduction: Keeping the Focus on Your Model
Master the essentials of natural-light portraiture on location.
This natural light photography course will help you master a number of different techniques when using just natural light and your camera. This section covers photographing single subjects, couples, families, children and group shots and will help you understand how to find the right location, know when the ideal time for photography is and identify the best light for photographing.
This photography class is an outdoor portrait in a stunning location, but beautiful locations can sometimes be tricky. They can be quite busy, which can make it difficult to keep the focus on your model.
In this photography class, Karl explains the basics of photographing with natural light before going into detail about how to isolate a model in a busy setting such as this. He also points out the best light to photograph in and explains why before showing you exactly how to make the most of available light by carefully positioning your model and waiting for the perfect moment.
In this class:
- Portrait photography using natural light
- How to use natural light for outdoor portraits
- Camera settings for outdoor portraits using natural light
- How to pose your model
- Creative composition for outdoor portraiture
Questions? Please post them in the comments section below.
Comments
Hi Karl, thank you so much for the video.
I would like to ask about maintaining the proportion of the model, meaning the body height and how you managed to avoid any distortion while you were lying on the ground while taking a photo. I learned previously that I need to hold the camera at my chest hight or slightly higher if I am photographing a taller person to maintain their body hight.
Thank you so much.
Hi, I would forget about the rule that you’ve heard as I can’t see that doing anything other that preventing you from trying creative ideas. As you work through the classes in this platform on Portraiture or Fashion that involve models or people you will see a variety of ways that I approach photographing people and there is only one rule. Just do what works!
There are certainly obvious things to consider with lighting styles for certain people, older, larger, etc etc. Lens choice also has a big impact on how someone looks which you will also see covered in our Lighting Theory section there is a class about lens choices for portraiture. So the simple answer is don’t worry about it, experiment, shoot more, watch more classes and feel free to ask more questions. We look forward to seeing you progress, all the best Karl.
Hi Karl,
I do product and food, with portraits on occasion. I know you are not an advocated of light meters in the studio. How much do you rely on the in camera metering during out door shoots and where are you picking your exposure point? The model being blonde would blow out the highlights, something dark like the back ground (trees) or foreground (grass/flowers)? Or just using your intuition as the light changes. Apologies for the long winded question.
Hi, thank you for your question. I am an advocate for a light meter if you’re shooting film because then you have limited options for checking exposure. If shooting tethered then the tethering software is a far more accurate light meter with the measurements available in combination with the high resolution visual previews. If not shooting tethered on a digital camera then I rely on the histogram in combination with the image on the camera screen. I also adjust my camera screen as best as possible to preview the images as close to a high quality monitor as possible, I also often view the images on the camera screen under a black cloth for better viewing outdoors. Modern cameras have relatively high quality screens these days. In terms of metering I sometimes opt for spot metering on an important part of the image but to be absolutely honest most of the time I don’t use the built in meter at all. I make the following decisions: First, 100iso straight away and will only change if I have to, then what aperture do I want to shoot for creative reasons, so if it’s f11 then that’s what I’ll choose then I’ll just adjust the shutter speed until the exposure is about right. Then I’ll check the exposure on the screen and if it looks good but the shutter speed is too slow then I’ll have to make some choices, do I open the aperture or do I increase the ISO etc etc. Or even better stick with what I’ve got and use a tripod (especially if it’s a landscape image). Equally if I want a 4 second shutter speed at f16 at 100ISO and there’s too much light then I’ll add an ND filter etc. Most of the time if I’m shooting on location then I’m using flash so my choice is to underexpose the daylight scene by about a stop and then add flash to my subject. I don’t use a light meter or the camera meter for any of this, I just look at the result and if there are any areas that are possibly blown out or too black I’ll check the histogram to see if that is actually happening. Also all of this is done shooting in RAW and with today’s modern raw files with large dynamic range you can also pull back minor highlight or shadow limits.
Thank you for that very in-depth response. I appreciates the care you took to answer all aspects of my query.
I’m wondering how you got the blur of the sun rays in the image with the blue bells?
Hi Miriam, at what time in the video please and I’ll check what you mean and come back to you.
Just signed up and looking forward to improving my portrait photography, but I have a request. I’d really like to see some lessons on one-light (strobe or off camera flash) with outdoor portraits. Using ND filters vs HSS for outdoor portraits would be a good way to cover it.