The Hideout

Lighting 101 – Part Two: Using Natural Light and modifiers.

In this lesson, we’ll take a look at using natural light and a simple, inexpensive 5-in-1 reflector. When you’re learning to light, start thinking about your sources of light and the order of intensity you want them in. I find it easiest to choose your key light first. Your key light should be your main light. All your light sources after the key become fill, background or accent lights. So in this section, obviously our key light is the sun. We’re going to talk about where to place that giant burning key light and how to provide some fill. How? Simple!

The 5-in-1 reflector : Tool of the gods!

When you’re new to lighting, you may spend some time reading about all the different kinds of lighting equipment and sigh at your empty wallet, but truthfully you don’t need very much to begin learning to manipulate light.

A 5-in-1 reflector (I have a Westcott) comes with a zip off, reversible cover so you have a gold, silver, white, black and translucent diffuser at your disposal for usually $20-$40.00US. (That’s James of Undying Photography holding it above.) But what do they do?

Gold- This side will mimic the look of warm, setting sunlight. This is what I used for the finished photograph above and you can see how the light hitting the lovely Adrienne is warm on both sides, because the late afternoon sun is behind her, and the gold reflector is in front of her.

Silver- The silver side will achieve a more ‘commercial’ look and is my favorite for studio work. I’ve found that shining a silver reflector at your model in daylight is a quick and efficient way to blind him/her for life.

White- When you don’t want gold outside (and a lot of times you’ll find that it casts a little too much yellow on the skin before the sunset hours) this is where you want to head. This will add just enough fill to do most jobs and if you can only have one reflector…go with white.

(TIP: Broke? Me too.  A simple piece of white foam core or even poster board will work in a pinch. If you want to get fancy with your DIY reflectors, get two large pieces of foam core and tape them together to make a V-card. A V-card will wrap light around your subject more than a single flat surface and if wind isn’t a factor, stand up on its own. Here’s a great article on v-cards with some great examples.)

Black- It took me a while to figure out what the black side did. The black side is there to gobble up light. Why would you want to do that? Exactly what I said! You want this when you WANT a shadow but you’re getting fill light bounced back onto the shadow side of your subject. Placing the black reflector on the shadow side of your subject will ensure that you get the shadow you’re after. It also works as a headshot backdrop or gobo in a pinch.

Diffuser- At the center of your 5-in-1 is a translucent diffuser. This is GREAT for outdoor work in harsh, overhead sunlight. Placing it between the sunlight (or flash) and your subject will scatter and diffuse the light, making it softer and more flattering.

Bending Light to Your Will

The first thing you should do when arriving on-location for an outdoor shoot is walk around and look for not only pleasing and uncluttered backdrops, but for compelling light. If you remember nothing else about lighting with natural light, remember this: the best light occurs in the early morning just before and just after sunrise, and just before and just after sunset. These are called the ‘golden hours’ because the light is just that: golden and beautiful. Skin tones look their best in warmer light and the colors in the sky and directional light make for beautiful photographs if you know how to light.

However, when you’ve got no flash power, you’ll have a difficult time bringing out the color in the sky without underexposing and silhouetting you subject…so when you’re getting started with natural light, work in the hours after sunrise and before sunset, when the light is bright but coming from a 45 degree angle in the sky.

To get started, place your subject where you want them and take a photograph. Look at where the shadows fall, and identify what you don’t like. The most common problem is empty eye socket syndrome where your subject’s eyes are shadowed. Eyes are often the most important part of a portrait, so if they fall ‘dead’, your photo may fall flat.

You can solve this problem a few ways. The easiest way is to move the subject into open shade, like that provided by the side of a building (Tip: I like to flip my white balance to “shade” to warm up the cool color temperature of shade, it’s not necessary if you’re shooting RAW, but I like to get as much right in-camera as possible.) or use your diffuser panel to diffuse the light and soften the shadows.

This photo was taking in the open shade, with no fill at all.

Another very effective trick is to have your subject stand in the shadow of a tree or some other sliver of shade to give their face an even light but keep a bright, light-filled background. This is especially effective with wide open apertures, like f2.8.

My favorite method is to break the high school photo class rules and put the subject’s back to the sun and use a gold or white reflector to fill light the subject’s face. You will need to use your camera’s metering to tweak the exposure so the skin is well lit and not overpowered by the sun light. I like to do this because having the sun behind the subject rim-lights them and separates them from the background. This method does amazing things for light hair especially as you can see on Adrienne.

It takes a little practice to see where the light is hitting the subject and get the angle right, but I’ve found it helps a lot to squish the reflector into a Pringles-like potato chip shape.  In the photo above I had James hold the gold reflector at waist height and up-light Adrienne a little.

You could also let the sunlight hit your subject from the side, and use your reflector to fill in the shadow side, which will give you a more dramatic look. The possibilities are endless. The whitewashed side of a building can become a giant reflector, light reflects off sand and provides natural fill, you can use a white bedsheet as a giant diffuser over your subject’s head…get creative and you’ll find there’s no lighting challenge that can defeat you.

Next lesson we’ll start talking about artificial lighting a la small strobes! If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments or on The Hideout photography forum!