Portrait photography with natural light has been forever popular, but as we photographers know, more light is not necessarily better. In fact, like the vampire hybrid, we avoid the sun at its brightest at midday.
In general, I prefer to use strobe lights, even when balanced with available light, sometimes the sun just produces the most pleasant light and you can’t help yourself. These short but wonderful windows are usually in the early morning or late afternoon, when the sun is low. When the sun is directly overhead, at its highest and often brightest, there isn’t much that can be done with it. Therefore, most photographers avoid taking photos outdoors at this time like the plague. However, it’s not simply a write-off, you just need to use it for what it is.
In the video, Peter Coulson shoots portraits when the light is deemed not at its brightest, creating harsh shadows. In this situation you can reduce the contrast with the reflector, or you can do like Coulson and rely on that. High contrast works especially well for black and white images, as evident in this shot.
Do you ever shoot in the blazing midday sun? How do you handle it and do you harness its power?
