Natalie writes:

I have been keeping up with your blog site since the beginning of the fall semester. I’m still very new with photography and I find it much easier to shoot on overcast days than when it is bright and sunny outside. I recently took my d90 out around and took a couple of pictures of my friend & I. But I started to struggle due to the amount of sunlight. So, I decided to wait till close to sunset to shoot. (the picture came out better )

However, I want to learn how to overcome this obstacle because I know there will be times when I have to be elsewhere. I was looking through the gearlist and was considering on getting some reflectors. I was hoping if you can give me your input. Thanks in advance! Keeping up with your blog really encourages me to travel all around california. I never made it passed L.A

Before we jump to the answer, here’s a photo from an older post to demonstrate how you can overcome harsh overhead sunlight.

Answer:

First off, thanks so much for keeping up with our blog. We hope to not only create pretty pictures but to be helpful to other photographers who are starting out as well. Before we talk about reflectors, let’s discuss bright sunny days for a bit.

On sunny days… as you’ve found, it’s best to shoot in the later afternoon hours when the sun is not so directly overhead and powerful. The best tip of all is to avoid sunny days :p. I’m glad you discovered overcast days.. those truly are the best days to shoot outdoors. But if you find yourself having to shoot during bright daylight, you have a few options which we’ll discuss below.

1. If you want vibrant blue skies, have your subjects face the sun (the sun is now behind you: the camera person).

   Pros: sky is nice and blue.
   
   Cons: people are squinting. you sometimes get deep shadows under nose, eyes and chin.
   

   How to improve:
   
   Turn the subjects a little bit so they don’t directly face the sun. Light coming from a side direction always looks more natural. You can then use fill flash or a reflector to lighten up the shadows under the nose and chin.

2. If you want to a properly exposed faces w/o squinting, turn your subjects’ backs against the sun (the sun is now in front of you: the camera person).

   Pros: less squinting (though some people just have naturally squinty eyes ;p). sunlight now acts as supporting back/rim light. No harsh shadows under eyes, nose and chin.
   
   Cons: sky is blown out white. sun is directly hitting the camera which can cause lens flare and loss of contrast in photo.
   

   How to improve without flash:
   
   • you can use spot metering on the faces to properly expose for them; this will sometimes blow out the sky and give you a bright background (high-key) effect.
   • you can also turn your subjects a bit so the sun is not directly hitting you. This will give a nice directional rim light to subjects and will also keep the sunlight away from your lens to minimize lens flare and loss of contrast. You can also have your hand or an assistant block the light from directly hitting your lens (will notice a night/day difference in contrast in your photo).
   How to improve with flash/reflector:
   • you can now properly expose for the background or sky (keeping it blue) and use your flash/reflector to light up your subject. A flash is easier to use than a reflector because you are less dependent on perfect angle that a reflector needs to properly bounce back to your subject. Sometimes you just don’t have the perfect angle to place the reflector at.. or the perfect angle places your subjects in a distracting background. A reflector also brings back squinty eyes since the sunlight is now bouncing back to them straight in the face.

Tips for using flash:
1. use off-camera speedlights to get more pleasing shadows. direct on-camera flash will give you a DMV mug shot ;p. To improve the look, place your flash off-camera at the proper position to give a more natural directional lighting. A good starting point for flash placement is: 45degrees camera-left and 45 degrees up from eye-level. (here’s an example of us using bare flash in harsh sunlight: the grand canyon shoot)
2. umbrellas or any diffuser in between the flash and the subject will eat up a lot of the power. This is the reason why we somethings gang up 2 speedlights together (for more power). But if you have to don’t be afraid to use bare flash w/o any umbrella modifiers. You just need to place the speedlights at the correct angles to get natural looking shadows on the nose, chin areas.
3. If you want to preserve the beautiful setting sky, point up to the sky then hit your exposure lock button (AE-L/AF-L). But when doing this, avoid getting the sun into your frame; it is way to strong and will throw off your exposure metering… just point to a section of the sky behind your subject that does not have the sun in it. This will make sure your camera keeps the sky nice and vibrant. Now that your exposure is locked, point back to your subjects and use your flash to brighten them up. Adjust your flash power if they are still too dark. You can use the power buttons on your speedlight itself, or the Flash Exposure Compensation button on your camera, both will adjust the power of the flash. (For an example of exposing for the sky and lighting up with flash see: the sunset shoot)

Tips for using reflectors:
Since the main question is asking for input on using reflectors, here is some general information on reflectors:
1. The biggest problem with reflectors is that you need an assistant to hold it for you. =/ This also means that your assistant must know how to properly angle the reflector; just as important is for them to keep that angle. How many of you have had your little brother/sister get lazy and have the reflector move from lighting the face to lighting the waist haha. *me: hand up* Typical reflectors are also notoriously tough to handle outdoors in the wind because of their flexible fold-away design.
2. You can use cheap foam boards from your general crafting store as great makeshift reflectors. Because they are rigid foam boards they are easier to handle in the wind and their white color gives a soft white reflection.
3. If your reflector causes harsh shadows, you can try to “feather the light”. Instead of aiming the light directly at their face, aim a little off to the side of the face. Here’s an example of using just reflectors in bright daylight.

Reflector gear info:

If you look at our gear page, you will see the reflectors we use are:

1. Westcott Photo Basics 304 5-in-1 Reflector Kit: this one works great indoors, but flaps like crazy outdoors with any kind of wind. tough to hold and keep steady. The reflector frame alone (without the reflective covers) can act as a see-through diffuser. Place this overhead to shade a person’s face from the sun to instantly soften up the light hitting the person. This works well with tight head shots only, as the circular reflector is not large enough to completely block the whole body (the larger whole-body ones are called: scrims).
2. Lastolite TriGrip Diffuser, One Stop – 30″ (75cm): Main difference between this and the above is that it is easier to use outdoors since it has a handle and is a bit smaller than the big circular one above. However, the wescott kit above has everything included as the kit… with this one you have to buy the reflective surfaces separately. Like the one above, the tri-grip itself can also work as a diffuser.
3. California Sunbounce Micro Mini: this is the best reflector we have. The biggest difference is its very rigid (but lightweight) aluminum frame that can easily withstand wind, makes it easy to handle outside. Added bonus of option to mount onto a lightstand when you do not have an assistant to hold. Super added bonus of having the option to mount a flash onto it to use when you do not have direct sunlight to reflect. Having the ability to mount a flash is huge because now you have all the benefits of a flash (more controlled power) with all the benefits of a reflector (soft diffused bounced light, larger surface area than just a bare flash head).

Well, I hope this gives you a better understanding of using flash and reflectors to help while shooting under bright sunlight. As with everything, practice makes perfect. Get out there and try out these different tips. If you have more questions, just ask them below.

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What is FAQ Fridays?

FAQ Fridays is an ongoing weekly feature on this site where WE answer questions submitted by you. We hope this new segment will help with many of your photography challenges. As always, you can ask questions in the comments section if it relates to that certain post.

Here is a list of: all previous FAQ Fridays posts

If you have specific questions that do not relate directly… then feel free to submit your questions by using the FAQ Fridays Submission Form page.

Alternatively, you can email your questions to: faq -at- prettygeeky.com (note: email broken up to prevent spam bots).

Here’s a teaser photo below, but click through and you’ll be surprised to find what this session was really about. Oh, I’ve also included a tip to improve your outdoor portraits too!

The couple in the teaser photo above is actually the President and Vice President of the Oregon State Hmong student union (officially called: Hmong OSU). With the beautiful leaves falling all around us setting the mood, I just couldn’t resist snapping a few photos of the two of them. So what was the real purpose of this shoot? We were asked to get portrait shots of the officers of the Hmong club. Unfortunately not all were able to make it; but the ones who did show up sure had a lot of fun.

Here are the results… included are the classic portrait shots and of course a few fun ones thrown in as well. Hope you enjoy them.

Here are the more traditional portrait head shots they needed… with some fun ones mixed in. I love waiting for the real expressions to come out =p.

It’s supposed to say O-S-U… but as you can see, the “S” was backwards lol. Beaver bonus points rewarded still =)

Photography Tip: …as captured in the photo below =p. To get your portrait head-shots to “pop”… use a reflector underneath to fill in the shadows. Inexpensive, simple.. and very effective. Any reflector can work… check out our Gear List for recommendations.

Of course, we had to have some fun with the leaves right?

Feeling a little left out with the girls having all the fun…. Jerry wanted some leaf tossing action too.

Apparently, segregation is still alive and strong!?

I always enjoy natural light photography. It really forces you to pay attention to the direction of light. =) In case you were wondering, all the photos above were captured with the Nikon D700 and 50mm f/1.4G lens… and of course under natural light. Here are a few random shots… take a look at all the color! I love this time of year.

Fun Story:
Just when we were ready to start shooting the head shots…as if right on cue, there was Frodo (bare footed and all)… running away from an army of students armed with Nerf guns. We were caught in the middle of a war between Humans vs Zombies. Humans are armed with Nerf guns… and must shoot all the zombies before turning into one (getting tagged) themselves. Seriously, how could I even make something like this up? lol Apparently, this student body war game has been going on for years. Yes, everyone… these are our brightest and most gifted. Fear not! For the future is in good hands!?

Question: Why is Frodo even running! Doesn’t he know that the cape he’s wearing can make him invisible? Duh?

The photos above were taken using my favorite lightweight natural light photography combo: Nikon D700 and 50mm f1.8. Below are some things to know that can help when using a reflector.

Tips on using a reflector:

1. Reflectors work great as fill lights. Set it up opposite your main light for a nice soft fill.
2. Reflectors can also serve as your main light (reflecting the sun onto your subject)
3. Reflectors can add that extra oomph to flat natural lighting.
4. When using it outdoors, grab an assistant if you can. With the photos above, I didn’t have one… so I had to hold with one hand or prop it on the ground. argggh annoying.
5. reflectors are tough to hold steady in the wind (even with an assistant). This is especially true for the typical large 5-in-1 round reflectors. The tri-grip reflector aids in this by having triangular shape making it easier to grip steady.
6. when used to reflect sunlight, your subjects will be squinting (make no mistake of this… unless they are trained models who are used to this). To help reduce squinting, feather your reflected light. How? Don’t reflect sunlight directly onto the subject’s face. Aim off to the side so you get a feathered, softer light.
7. If the reflector is close to the subject, avoid direct reflected sunlight. The light is often too strong (Two of the photos up top has reflected light that is borderline too strong).
8. Use the white side for even neutral soft light, silver for more specular luster/contrast, gold for that golden sunlight tone, black to absorb/prevent light bouncing back

For indoors, I use the Westcott Photo Basics 304 5-in-1 Reflector Kit. It’s tough to keep steady outdoors in the wind however.

For outdoors, I use the TriGrip Diffuser, One Stop – 30″ (75cm). It’s smaller, but much easier to hold outdoors. You need to buy the gold/silver/white/black panels separately though (TriFlip Reflector Fabric Set for LR3607)

Here’s the BTS photo… it shows the Tri-grip reflector that I use.