Question about outdoor sunlight: I am a beginner

[Lisard]

Hi everyone! My question may be naive, but I am just learning. I live in Fl and shoot a lot outdoor. My main model is my one year old baby and she blinks on all photos because of sun. What would you recommend? White umbrella? And what size should it be and how to hold it? Anyway, any tips on outdoor lighting will be helpful. I am not at the poit yet to purchase professional equipment, just want to try what is on hand.
Thank you!

[DaveG]

Hi everyone! My question may be naive, but I am just learning. I live in Fl and shoot a lot outdoor. My main model is my one year old baby and she blinks on all photos because of sun. What would you recommend? White umbrella? And what size should it be and how to hold it? Anyway, any tips on outdoor lighting will be helpful. I am not at the poit yet to purchase professional equipment, just want to try what is on hand.
Thank you!



The first thing that amateur photographers are taught, is to shoot with the sun over their shoulder. The first thing that professional photographers should do is to never take portaits with the sun over their shoulder! The subject, as you've discovered, will just squint. But if I shoot into the sun I'll have serious flare problems if I don't shade the lens.

I use a pro bellows shade and I don't expect you to invest in one. So start with the subject (and you, if possible) in the shade. That will even out the light. A piece (3'x2' or so) of white foamcore is a cheap effective reflector that you use to push a little light back into the baby's face. Your wife could hold another piece of foamcore which will block out the sun and shade your lens. This technique is called flagging, and a flag like this can be very effective.

You could also choose to use some flash from the camera to fill in the shadows. You'll still need to have the camera flagged and the baby facing away from the sun but you won't have to use the reflector. I'm not sure how effective this is since you lose your ability to use shutterspeeds over 1/200 of a second and fast shutterspeeds are useful for sharp images of a rampaging one year old!

[Lisard]

DaveG thank you very much! I tried to shoot in the shadow, but I love to shoot on the beach (as I mentioned i live in FL:) My husband usually doesn't join me for shooting so I am out of assistant.
Thank you for the answer and I will try to implement suggsted techniques.

[scottbergerphoto]

Lisard,
You might want to read Existing Light Photography, part of the Kodak Workshop Series.
Scott

[theoldmoose]

Wow. I bought that little book almost thirty years ago, and carried it around with me in my OM SLR bag. I wouldn't have thought it was still in print. Sure has a lot of good info in it, though.