If you head out unprepared to capture portraits under the midday sun, you might find yourself wrestling with harsh shadows and limited creative opportunities. While this time of day has a reputation for providing less than ideal lighting, we can actually use it to our advantage. In this guide, we will delve into the intricacies of midday lighting and share invaluable tips and techniques that will empower you to capture remarkable portraits even under the most demanding and stressful conditions.
Make the lighting as even as possible
Utilize the light and shadows in a way that flatter the model’s face. Most light, even midday light has a little bit of direction. Begin by placing the model in the path of the sun and assess how it wraps around the subject. Verbal cues such as tilting the chin up toward the sun and other subtleties such as a slight tilt of the head in either direction will aid in directing the model to a workable starting point.
Consider Using Flash As the Main Light
Here’s a breakdown of the gear used to create the images for this tutorial.
- Prime Lens: We recommend a prime lens (50mm, 85mm, etc.) with an aperture of f/1.2 to f/1.4. We used a Sigma 50mm Art lens paired with a Canon EOS R5.
- Powerful Light Source: To overpower the midday sun and achieve this look, you’ll want an off-camera flash with between 250 to 500 watt seconds of power. We used a Profoto B10 Plus.
- Light Modifier: A medium to large softbox will help soften the light and produce a more natural overall look to the light. For this purpose, we used the MagBox 42” Octa.
Following the C.A.M.P. Framework, we’ll kick it off by determining our composition. We could’ve approached this scene and shot it straight on with the trees directly behind our subject, but choosing a sideways angle instead gives the portrait more visual appeal.
From this angle, we have foreground elements to the right that help lead us into the frame. Also, we’ve positioned the subject in front of a darker area, which will help the subject pop after we add flash. Finally, the trees off to the left extend the background and add depth to the shot.
Next, we’ll need to dial in our ambient exposure. As we mentioned earlier, the goal here is to create a natural light looking portrait even though we’re going to use flash. Another goal included creating plenty of bokeh, which means we’ll need a wide aperture, so we’ll have to adjust the other settings accordingly.
At this point, we can start to modify or add light to our scene as needed. For this shot, we’re going to add an off-camera flash to illuminate our subject. In this particular scene, the sunlight is entering top down from right to left across the frame and creating a nice edge light, so we’ll place our main light to the left of the frame and criss-cross with the sunlight.
You can always move the flash just a little bit deeper into the scene (away from the camera and perpendicular to the subject) to give yourself a little bit more light direction and create more drama. Likewise, if you want to make the portrait a little less dramatic, as far as how the shadows fall on the skin, bring the light back towards the camera. You can get very different looks from doing this.
Here are our final shots:
Create your own shade
Shade is always a usable option outdoors and sometimes it isn’t as abundant as it should be. Using a reflector to block the light can create a very even and diffused, if not somewhat flat, lighting source.
eflectors are an excellent piece of inexpensive equipment to fill in the shadows without the use of a portable light and works very well in backlit situations. The diffusion panel found in standard 5-in-1 reflectors may be a better source for those who want a little more gradation and subtle contrast.
Shoot in Raw and Underexpose
Highlights are easily blown when working in harsh mid-day sun and underexposing slightly helps retain them. The information captured in the Raw image makes it easy to decrease the shadows and bring out more detail.
Set Consistent LCD Brightness
First, we will change our LCD Brightness from Auto to Manual. With Auto Brightness, our displays will make bright scenes appear brighter, and dark scenes will appear darker, which isn’t a true representation of the exposure. Switch to a manual setting so that your LCD is consistent in every image. Although this takes some adjusting, it is one step to easily identify your camera exposure and develop consistent images.
Use The Histogram
Just as with our LCD Brightness, we want to make sure we can identify our ideal exposure. Switch from using your histogram sometimes, to making it a habit and use it always. This feature allows us to easily identify and adjust our exposure to maximize the dynamic range.
Enable Highlight Alert
While our histogram is a great measurement of our exposure levels, it can be hard to identify where our highlights are blown. By enabling the Highlight Alert you can see the blown portions of the image and adjust your exposure settings accordingly.
This excerpt from the workshop shows an approach you can take when faced with harsh sunlight to make sure you get an ideal set-up.
Use a fill light to preserve highlights, this will help to minimize hard light and also to darken the image. Try using our favorite light reflector or off-camera flash. When harsh lighting is inevitable, here’s a quick tutorial on how we salvaged the image above by setting yourself up for success in Lightroom.
Use a Flash to Add Directional Light
A high-powered strobe can be a beneficial tool in any photographer’s kit – even for someone that shoots primarily natural light. You can use a flash in the middle of the day to mimic sunlight and add light direction. See the video below.
About twenty minutes into the shoot, the sun, previously peeking through the trees, had disappeared. In response, the photographer brought out a Profoto B1 and placed it on a Benro monopod to recreate the desired lighting effect. Being aware of the absence of sunlight direction through the trees, the photographer adjusted the frame and composition to avoid confusion regarding the light source or the use of a strobe.
To direct the light towards the subjects, the photographer improvised a makeshift reflector using a speed ring, typically used for mounting accessories. They secured the monopod between two trees and aimed it towards the shooting area to achieve the desired lighting setup.
Conclusion
It is the unpredictability of the midday harsh light in an outdoors setting that can be intimidating for many. Embracing the imperfections of these scenarios can create a new dimension of interest that is highly sought after in fashion and beauty photography when it is done well.
