Recruiting my little one to be assistant and model is like rolling the dice-- you never know what you're going to get. I sought out her help yesterday in scouting the area and lighting for an upcoming sibling session. The trick with this particular session is going to be joining the location that I love with the time of day and lighting that will be less than ideal (but, really when on location is the lighting ideal?). Many photographers get into photography solely as natural light photographers and may progress into supplemental lighting. I have rarely focused my work on natural lighting. I love the intrigue and challenge of balancing the given light of a scene with additional illumination. This combination is how I achieved the images below and will be again using for the sibling session. The sunlight in this scenario was high in the sky and coming from about a 45 degree angle to my right. With no additional light brought into the scene, the first image below was the result. I could have turned her toward the light, but a squinting smile is as undesirable as half a face in shadow. There are several methods I could have used to bounce light back into the shadows, but because I work alone (oh yes, with the exception of my little assistant and model) my options are somewhat limited. My solution? A speed light (fancy word for external flash) attached to a soft box on a light stand to my left and a few feet from my subject. Adding the flash to fill in the shadow side of her face, helps balance out the directional light from the sun. The remaining images utilized the naturally occurring sunlight and the softbox. Together, the lighting opens up her beautiful smile and shining personality.
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