Hello Everyone! Welcome to another edition of Natural Light Wednesday, the new series where I feature news, gear, techniques, and photographers who specialize primarily in natural light photography. We are big fans of Natural Light Photography here at SLR Lounge and we wanted to do our part to help feature and bring more light (haha pun intended) to those of you who specialize in natural light work.
Featured Tip
Shooting in natural light can be a challenge if you have not had much experience. Seems like it’s so easy to over expose the background, or under expose your subject – but don’t worry, take these tips into account and your natural light shots will improve dramatically.
- Tip #1 – Expose with your Post-Processing in mind
Always keep your post processing abilities in mind when shooting in natural light. Sure, it is always good to get it right in the camera – but in some situations you simply won’t be able to. For example: If you expose for the sky then your subject will likely be underexposed, but assuming that your exposure is not crazy you should be able to do something as simple as increasing your shadows/fill light in lightroom to take care of the underexposed subject.
As you can see in the image above, a simple adjustment in Lightroom and now his full face and eyes are visible. Its better to get a shot and have to fix a small thing like this than not take the shot because you can’t get it 100% perfect in camera.
- Tip #2 – Be aware of changing light characteristics
Natural light looks differently at different times of day. Clouds can cover the sun to change your exposure. Be aware of what the light around you is doing so that you can make adjustments accordingly. This is not a studio where you can set your lights and camera settings and do an entire shoot. Natural light means you may have to change your settings to adjust multiple times in a given shoot.
Featured Photographer: Cole McDaniel Photography
This week’s featured photography comes to us from a submission by Cole McDaniel. Cole is a portrait and wedding photographer in the Memphis, TN area. In addition to the featured natural light work Cole also has some great music photography so check that out on his website if you’re interested.
Are you interested in having your natural light photography featured on a future edition of Natural Light Wednesday? Send me an email at athurston(at)slrlounge.com with a link to your work or a sample of 5-10 images that you think fit the bill. Who knows, maybe you could be featured in an upcoming article! Ill also accept emails with tips, tricks, techniques or gear that you use in your natural light photography.
If you have not seen it already our Natural Light Couples Photography DVD was just released and you need to check it out. It is our latest video workshop and we take you from planning, posing, shooting, and editing a complete couple’s portrait session, all with just natural light and a reflector.Click here to learn more or to purchase
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