In my previous post “Portrait photography: before and after pictures”, I showed the difference studio lighting can make in a portrait.
But the lighting equipment used to take these photographs is quite heavy and cumbersome, and hence it is not always practical to carry along.
The good news is that it is possible to find natural light settings that are also very flattering to women.
For example, one needs to look for something to block the light coming from above, because that light produces dark eyes, sometimes referred to as ‘racoon eyes’. The model then can face the direction the light is coming from. This front lighting is similar to the kind of lighting used in the beauty studio lighting set up, and works very well for women.
A few weeks back, I did a portfolio shoot for Beth, who is represented by Superior Model Management in Glasgow. The shoot presented the perfect opportunity to use this kind of light.
We went to the Meadows park, Edinburgh, and the pic below shows the location where the shoot took place. The roof perfectly blocks the light coming from above, and thus one gets soft light coming from the sides.
I simply had my model Beth face the direction of the light, and the resulting portraits are shown below.
This location allows one to take nice portrait photographs on a sunny or cloudy day, which is wonderful since the weather around Edinburgh can be a tad temperamental….
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