Tips to IMPROVE your Natural Light Portrait Photography

hey everyone today i want to share with you my tips and tricks to get better portraits in natural light and i also want to say a big thank you to canva for sponsoring today's video so i'm going to share with you how you can best utilize natural light things to look out for what metering modes to use what camera settings to use and i'm also going to take you step by step through the three most popular natural lighting scenarios that i use all the time in my own portrait photography which is diffused lighting harsh sunlight and backlight i have heaps and heaps of photos and video examples to share with you guys throughout today's video as well the first natural lighting scenario i want to get into is diffused light this is when you're shooting in undercover areas where you have ambient natural light when you are shooting in overcast cloudy weather and when you're taking photos in shady spots so basically diffused lighting is when the sun is not hitting your subject directly in any way diffused lighting can be used for creating soft images moody portraits clear images where you can see a lot of detail in your subject and the background diffused lighting can be really flattering for skin and i find that photos taken in this kind of lighting can make colors appear more vibrant and contrasty which is really nice to accentuate beautiful locations and outfits i find that when you shoot portraits in shady spots the color of eyes can be especially striking which i love since we have a few different diffused lighting scenarios the first one i want to share some tips for is when you're shooting in overcast weather this is arguably a lot of portrait photographers favorite weather to shoot in personally for me i have the most fun when i have some sunshine to work with but i can understand why since overcast lighting is flattering for skin you're not limited to what direction you can shoot in and the lighting stays the same for the majority of the session when it's overcast even though the lighting can look pretty even i find that sometimes there is still a light source that you need to keep an eye on if you have the sun behind the subject it can create shadows on their face which can be distracting even if they are diffused to get your portrait to pop i like to have the sun pointing towards my subject this will get rid of any shadows and emphasize a face in a portrait i also avoid the sky in my photos as much as possible overcast skies are white and can look really boring in your images so try to incorporate more of the location and play around with the angles that you're shooting from the next tips i have are for when you're shooting in the shade a super easy thing to look out for in the locations you're choosing for your portraits is to make sure both your subject and the background of your photo have the same amount of shade if your background is in the sun and your subject is in the shade the photo will look really unbalanced my last tips for diffused lighting is when you're shooting in an undercover area so maybe you're shooting in a greenhouse or a car park or an abandoned building basically anywhere that is undercover where you're still making use of the ambient light to light up your portrait in this photo shoot we were shooting next to an abandoned building that had an interesting long undercover area that i wanted to make use of to get the best results i make sure that my subject is facing the direction of the strongest natural light however for this shoot i wanted to create moody images so the strongest natural light was actually off to sarah's left hand side instead which is still bouncing some fill light on her face it's also important to make sure the areas that are not under cover and not too blown out you might need to wait until later in the day for the sun to be softer to be able to balance those shadows and highlights with only natural light for this photoshoot we were shooting right at blue hour so the bright areas in the far background are not too overexposed or distracting when i'm shooting with diffused light i like to use either evaluative or spot metering on my camera if it's an overcast day or we are completely in the shade both the subject and the background then i would choose spot metering and meter for my subject's face this is the most important thing for me to correctly expose in my photo since the lighting is the same throughout the entire frame then if the subject is correctly exposed the background will most likely be as well if we're shooting in an undercover area where i have some brighter light somewhere in the background i would change my metering over to evaluative so my camera evaluates the lighting of the scene and i do this to make sure that the subject is exposed correctly but also so my highlights are not blown out in the background if i'm in a situation where i have to choose whether to expose my subject correctly or expose for my background then i will always prioritize to expose my subject correctly before we move on to my tips for taking portraits in direct harsh sunlight i want to let you guys know more about the sponsor of today's video canva canva is an online design and publishing tool that anyone can use regardless of how much design experience you have i love the pre-made templates to create instagram stories price sheets logos and heaps more for my photography business which are all completely customizable canva is really easy to use during the design process you can change and add new elements with just a few clicks you also have the option to quickly be able to download or share your designs in high quality with canva pro you have an endless collection of premium content and templates to choose from you can also work with the team to create professional looking designs by collaborating and commenting in real time which i think is such a cool feature so if you guys are interested in checking out canva then please use my link in the description below to get a 45 day extended free trial of canva pro next up we have harsh sun which is when the sun is directly facing your subject this can be tricky lighting to use but it can look so good to create vibrant high contrast photos with an editorial or fashion feeling it's also really handy to create some striking close-ups with i like to think of harsh sun as a studio light except you have no control where to position it you have to wait until the sun is in the right direction to be able to shoot i prefer shooting with harsh light during the morning or the afternoon when it's closer to the horizon as it's going to be more flattering for portraits since the sun is only ever facing a particular direction you can be limited with the poses and directions your subject can face i do like this as being restricted can force you to come up with more creative ways to shoot and make that particular lighting work but here are some things to look out for with harsh direct sunlight first is the shadows on the eyes you want the sun to be hitting the eyes as much as possible since they're the most important part of the portrait next is the nose shadows make sure you angle your subject in a way that they don't have a long nose shadow going across the face as this can distract from the overall portrait similar to when you're shooting in the shade if you want your subject to be the main focus of the image look for shade in your background while your subject is in the direct sun when you expose for your subject the background will appear extremely dark on the other hand if you want to see your environment make sure to look for a location that has the sun hitting both the background and your subject one last thing i wanted to mention when it comes to shooting with direct sun is that it can be difficult for your subject to look into the sun or just in the general direction of the sun so something that i ask them to do is to close their eyes while we get into position and i get my camera settings correct and then i count them in to open their eyes when i'm ready to take a few photos so i like to use spot metering for harsh sun portraits and this is where the camera meters light for where your focus point is in the frame which is usually and hopefully on your subject's face the reason for this is that the subject being correctly exposed is yet again my main priority if you're shooting a more environmental portrait with the sun hitting the backdrop and your subject then you won't have as many issues since the lighting is the same everywhere in the frame if you're taking a shot where your subject is in the sun but the background is in the shade you want to make sure you are exposing for your model if you have evaluative metering here you might end up with overexposed skin since your camera might want to compensate for the dark background if you're enjoying this video i'd love if you could hit the like and subscribe button as i upload new photography videos every single week the last lighting scenario that i want to share some tips about is my absolute favorite which is backlight backlight is when your sun is behind your subject and the sun is pointing towards your lens if you guys watch my behind the scenes videos or see my photos on instagram the good majority of my photos are taken with backlight in my opinion this is the dreamiest of all lighting scenarios i love using this lighting to create soft and whimsical photos photos in backlight can look both washed out and contrasty depending on how you use the sun you can make use of in-camera lens flares and light leaks with props it's really flattering for skin and it's super easy to capture a nice variety of photos too from close-ups to full body i enjoy that you don't have a lot of restrictions when you're shooting with backlight which is similar to diffused lighting here you are free to pose in any way you like but you have to make sure that you the photographer are shooting from a particular direction to get the softest light with a mirrorless camera it doesn't matter so much since you can always see what your photos are going to turn out like with the lcd or the evf but if you're using a dslr and you're struggling to find nice backlight to use i would recommend to turn on your lcd ask your subject to stand in one spot and walk side to side checking out how the light is changing in your frame and what it looks like on your subject to find the best spot to shoot from just like our other two lighting scenarios with backlight if you pick a spot with shady background it helps your subject pop for these shady backgrounds i like to find interesting colors to shoot against to add some interest to the photo or a background with plain texture so it's not too distracting on the other hand backgrounds that are in the sun adds to the dreamy effect of the photo as you're getting the full effect of backlight one of my favorite tips is to look out for the strength of the backlight that you're using i use both open backlight and diffuse backlight to give different effects i like shooting with the sun directly in my lens for a washed out look and also hiding the sun behind my subject to be able to take a clearer portrait of them it's also handy to use both these effects during one portrait session to be able to capture a nice variety of photos for example in this shoot with alana during golden hour at the beach i was taking some photos where the sun was washing out the image so elana blends into the photo i was also getting some shots where i would crop out the sun or i would hide the sun behind her so we could capture some clearer portraits of her face you can use reflectors to bounce light back to the subject's face to help them pop more when you're shooting in backlight but you guys can see in my behind the scene videos that i very rarely use a reflector so the way i do this is by finding natural reflectors in my location instead one of the easiest examples to explain this with is if we're shooting backlit at the beach since sand is a light color the sun will hit that and bounce light back into my subject's face pretty much anything which is a light color can be used as a reflector such as fences cars buildings and things along those lines as for metering i use evaluative metering for backlit portraits to get an overall exposure for the image again like any other lighting scenario the face is the most important part of a portrait for me so i will always prioritize exposing for that if the light is extremely bright on the day and i'm having a hard time balancing the light in my portrait i will sometimes slightly underexpose the face to be able to salvage some of those details in the highlights afterwards imposed i can bring the highlights down to have a bit more detail in the background so those are my tips on how to use natural light to get better looking portraits i'd love to know in the comments which one is your favorite lighting scenario to shoot with mine for sure is backlight but you guys already know that but thank you guys so much for watching i make new videos every single week so i will see you all next time bye

Channel: Julia Trotti

Views: 83,947

Keywords: fashion photography, portrait, portrait photography, julia trotti, photoshop, lightroom, premiere, adobe, natural light photography, natural photography, natural light fashion, digital film, digital film actions, canon, sony, photography

Id: UE_01EqTU3w

Length: 12min 17sec (737 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 26 2021