In continuing my hunt for more outdoor portrait locations, I drug (yes, drug) our teenage son along for assistance. It was time to update his photos, but not too many teenage boys (or boys of all ages?!) enjoy having their pictures taken. I have never ordered school pictures for him (ever) and this is the price he has to pay for having a photographer mom (well, one of them.... LOL.....)! This exercise was an invaluable lesson in lighting. I purposely chose the same time to do this as the previous session with our daughter. The location I had in mind has this wonderful 'character' bridge (I can't call it a real bridge because no water flows under it!). Much to my dismay, the sun was already quite high in the sky and blazing down on this scene. For the first image, I used my reflector for a different purpose-- to block the direct sun. Ideally, a scrim would have been best (a large, light-diffusing panel), but that item has been on my wish list for quite some time will I do my homework on which to purchase. The reflector, on a light stand way up high, shielded my son's head and shoulders from the glare of the light at least allowing me to capture an image with the bridge.
The next two images were taken using only the available natural light in the shadows of the surrounding trees.
You've got to let your models have some fun, too. Here he found a tree to climb and I saw the most authentic smile (the second image) of the session yet. He was quite some distance from me, but you can see the small catchlights in his eyes from the umbrella I used to bounce light back into his face.
Here is one final image to round off our session. My experiment yielded the answer to my question regarding lighting on location: soft box, umbrella or reflector only. Softbox all the way in my book. Although I am happy with these images of our son , the lighting yielded from using the soft box is much closer to the effect I am trying to achieve. I will continue to dabble and play with natural light, but for now my soft box will be my go-to item for future location sessions.
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