Secrets of Natural Light Portraits
In the Moment: A perfect confluence of subject and sunlight combine to create a genuine and memorable portrait.
I love shooting portraits with artificial light and the ability to dial in exactly the desired effect. At the same time, it’s always a pleasure to work with our friend, the Sun. A recent outdoor session involving an impressive, elegant young project engineer who calls herself Olivia X illustrated that point clearly.
Long obsessed with dramatic studio lighting, often emulating classic 1930s Hollywood, of late, I have been pursuing natural light and lifestyle portraits.
How hard could that be? Undoubtedly, free of the technical complexity of studio light, it must be more straightforward. You would think. Contrarily, studio light is controllable and, thus, predictable. On this particular day, the light not only waxes and wanes due to the constantly changing cloud cover but also varies depending on the subject’s position in relation to the sun (factoring in the time of day). Beyond that, it’s essential to consider location, which is key.
For this session, I had scouted an area of a historic prep school campus that featured a series of white-surfaced buildings separated by white pathways, all of which contributed to a mass of bounced light, creating a lovely and nearly shadowless even tone on my subject. Between the structures were sections of tall grasses, amber in color, billowing in the autumn breeze, harmonious with my subjects’ skin tones and sunglasses. The windswept afternoon added motion and drama to the scene.
In this extraordinary capture, Olivia projects a genuine, spontaneous moment, her body slightly asymmetrical, projecting life, love, and vigor, captured with shallow depth of field, rendering the foreground and background into a painterly bokeh.
The connection between the subject and photographer bristles with energy. I can’t imagine a more invigorating pursuit than capturing joyful moments in people that can never be replicated.
—J Heroun
