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Outdoor portraits can offer a sense a drama or romance that can be hard to achieve in a studio setting. The early morning or evening sky can serve as a stunning backdrop for a portrait. The trick is in lighting your subject properly.
This lesson shows how to use just a couple of lighting fixtures to achieve great outdoor portraits.
(Click on any image below for an enlarged view.) |
Topics Covered:
- Setting up the main light
- Using a bounce reflector fill
Equipment Used:
 Figure 1 |
We set up a Photoflex StarFlash 1000 Mercury 5' OctoDome Kit for our main light. |
 Figure 2 |
It is important to use a light source that is large enough to cover your subject. Here the 5 foot OctoDome3 is perfect for giving us adequate light coverage for our model. |
 Figure 3 |
With our StarFlash 1000ws exposure matching a good exposure for the sky, we have a nice starting point for our bridal portrait. |
 Figure 4 |
We added a LitePanel to the right of our model to bounce sunlight back into our model. This should provide a nice rim light along the edges of the bride. This rim light adds depth and definition to the image. |
 Figure 5 |
This shot shows the effect of using only the LitePanel reflector. Notice that the sun is directly lighting the left side while the reflected sunlight is lighting the right side. |
 Figure 6 |
The main light was switched back on and we made another exposure. |
 Figure 7 |
We have a great result here. The combination of the main light and the reflector fill light complement this sun lit scene very nicely. |
 Figure 8 |
We moved to another section of the beach to take some more shots. The sun was lighting the right side of the model, so we placed the main light and reflector on the left side. |
 Figure 9 |
This shows the set up from behind the photographer. |
 Figure 10 |
Again, we achieved great results using the same lighting gear. The combination of natural light and strobe light provides for a beautifully dramatic shot. |
 Figure 11 |
We are free to repose and shoot many shots once our lighting set up is established. |
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Click here to view a more detailed version of this lesson, complete with camera set-up information, on Web Photo School. |
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Related Lessons
Following are Web Photo School lessons related to this topic.
Equipment Used:
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