Ok guys here we go - a few of my outdoor portraits with a explanation/justification of the lighting in each. Feel free to add your own.
As I mentioned in the other thread, I estimate that I use strobes on outdoor shoots about 20% of the time. So I'll start with an example of that.
1. Here I have Lauren (a senior a few years ago) in the doorway of an old train car at about 10 in the morning. Obviously the ambient light did not look like this; the lighting here is the result of my Einstein in a large white PLM. There's still a hint of natural light (the rear of the train is lit by the sun) but for the most part, this is all "me." (and her mom holding onto my PLM for dear life in the wind)
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Lauren


2. Hey baby. I did portraits for this little guy a while back for his first birthday. He was unusually mobile and so I basically just followed him around until he poked his head up. There would have really been no way for me to get this guy to stay still long enough for me to set up any kind of artificial lighting. I probably could have had his dad try to follow him with a reflector but he was better used trying to get the kid's attention. So, entirely natural light, around 5pm if I remember right.
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Frederick


3. Sure, the light is nice at 5pm, but what about earlier in the day? This is a simple portrait I did for Stephanie in the early afternoon. Back to the sun and smile. Sure there are some blown highlights in the background but…eh. The quality of light on her face is very nice and soft, if just a *little* hot on the right side of her face. Women who are not models really benefit from natural light - it hides blemishes very well. If everyone looked like Adriana Lima then yeah, I'd take a silver BD out and nuke away. But for most people that's just going to create a retouching nightmare. Anyway.
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Stephanie


4. When I have more time, I'll take people to my locations where I know light is good at pretty much all times of the day. Here I have Bryce in one of those spots. About 3 feet to his left is a giant rock wall, which increases contrast. To his front and right is a clearing in a wooded area - just big enough so that the sky creates a beautiful catchlight in the eye at the 10:00 position. No reflector here.
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Bryce


5. Here's a situation where I honestly think flash would probably do more damage than good: just a simple open field about 90 minutes prior to sunset. Unless I were to have had a HUGE box or PLM out there, I probably would have killed the natural look of this shot, to say nothing of the fact that - despite what it looks like - I took this when she thought I wasn't paying attention. I did have her dad holding a white reflector to my left, but he's at my side and I'm shooting at 200mm; believe me when I say there was no real light coming from it. It did however, provide a small circular highlight in her eyes.
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Open Field


6. I'm going to add another strobe shot even though it will put me over my 20% estimation here. This is just a very simple actor's headshot that I did outside my studio with an Einstein through a large octabox. Why did I go with artificial light here? A couple of reasons. First - I had an assistant to hold everything. That's huge. Second - and unlike some of the kids above - I know that Todd can stand still and take direction. Third - this is a headshot, and I could get that big octa very close to make it very soft and eliminate visible falloff. So yes, I have the tell-tale octagonal catchlights but other than that the quality of light is decidedly natural-looking.
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Todd


7. Back to natural light for some fashion-esque work. I was really hoping for a sunny day for this shoot, but it turned out to be very dark and overcast. We actually got rained out after about an hour. But as any photographer knows, a cloudy sky is just a huge softbox. Very soft, flattering light. Really just no need for flash, even though I think (unlike some of the shots above) that it wouldn't have hurt to use it.
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Brittany


8. I'll close with a shot of Madison here in another one of my favorite shooting locations, where the light is generally good all day. All natural light, no reflectors, etc. Just very soft, flattering natural light. So again, I just don't think there was any need to break out the big guns and dealing with all the headaches associated with light falloff, mixed color temperature, neutral density filters (this is at f/1.2), etc.
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IMG_4863


So there it is - limited to 8 so I tried to get a wide variety in there.
joe