Midday sun solutions. This image is from a wedding I did in The Canary Islands. The sun is high and it's hard to light them without interfering with what's between them and me. Too bright for my spots etc. A mirror would have  been the best "try". My personal rule photographing people outside is: If you can't get good light on them, don't have them look in the camera! Dark eyes looking at you is like an autofocus hitting a white wall, you just keep searching and searching without getting contact.

If I had wanted an image with eye contact, I would have kept the camera frame, but moved them close to me on the right and added some nice light on them, maybe also a diffusion screen over their heads (a California Sunbounce Sun Swatter would been the ideal one, since you can keep it so high and out of your shot). If you know me, you know I love photographing in midday sun, and it is one of the main things I teach.

A second thing about this image: I got low to get more lines, but mostly to get their heads clear of the ocean line to keep it peaceful between them. 

Workshop in Oslo, Norway together with Roy Gabrielsen and Michal Tomazewicz

When I do workshops I love to challange myself to do something nice with not ideal conditions. Of course the location here is faboulous, it's the new Opera in Oslo. I really liked the glass corner as you see. So i took the challange of hard dirct sun, sometimes we get forced to photograph with light like that, normally I will go up against the sun since I love backlight. Then add whatever ligthsource is best for the given situation. Anyhow here I am shooting in direct sunlight as you can see very well in image number 2, see how hard the shadows are on the ground. It's June 8th at 5:57 pm and that day the sun went down 10:34 pm, yes it is some very nice long days in Oslo this time of year:-) The diffussion panel we had was big but not large enough to diffuse her and the building, so no diffusion. I'm shooting laying on the ground under the reflector shooting @ 28mm full frame. To make my model look good I have her lean forward to get more in level with the camera plane. Have her keep her hips back. This way I avoid distorting her getting big hips, small head etc etc. I use a silver/gold reflector to add a touch of warmth and to lighten up the hard shadows somehow. I tilt her head up more than normal so the sun will hit the triangle on her face. It is really important that everything face the sun right to not get unplesent shadows on her and the dress. Some other things that makes this image work well: She is the most important part of the image, so her skin/hair etc is the minority, the blue creates depth. Blue and yellow are also complimentary colors as you know. So there are several elements that make your eyes go to her more than the surroundings. Hope to see you somewhere in the world soon :-) Thanks for following my blog. 

One of my favorite times to photograph is shortly after the sun is down. When I lived in Europe it was nice and blue for about an hour after sunset, it's called the "Blue Hour". Here in Utah it is more like 15 min, so this will differ a lot with where you are. Here is my students from Saturday's class outside right by my studio photographing on tungsten setting to get it extra blue early after sunset. We used one tungsten spot behind for backlight and one in front. They are balanced nicely for the tungsten setting. Thank you Lindsey for freezing for us :-) To set the camera on tungsten gives you an early start on the blue, but when the sun have been down for awhile I like to shoot on daylight setting, with warmer skin tone then of course. Manual setting for 4100-4300K seem to end up as one of my favorites, gives you something good in between colors. Color temperature, and how to create more depth and dimension in your images by controlling it is one of many things we talk about in the Photographing People Part 1-3 classes. I have used portable tungsten lights now since I worked on a movie in Paris in 1982, one of my favorite tools when the time is right. What you see is what you get.

In my last Photographing People class I was telling a student how she really needed to get a longer lens to get a more professional look on some of her work. I had just photographed Nathalie with my 70-200mm f.2.8 @ 160 and f 2.8 ( see left image) when I thought I would hurry and take a picture more like what she would get on her lens. I also had to shoot from a higher angle (a mistake almost all people do when the photograph children), because otherwise I would get all kind of problems in my background from the wider lens. In the first I shoot more into her face and am on her level with good contact. The one to the right is shot at 75mm f 9.0. It sure is important to me to choose the right lenses and f stops to look different and better then most people do, even with the same light. Notice the background blur with the longer lens, yes it was shot on 2.8 so yes the 75mm shot would be a bit more blurred if shot on a lower f.stop. Both pictures are processed with one click in Colorperfect, the most useful workflow action we have in the Linge Action Packed PS 1 Workflow actions. It vignettes nicely and corrects very well, saves us about 80% of our time in Photoshop. The Actions set sells for US$ 175. To buy a set fill out the contact form to the left.

Yes, isn't it ALL about catching the right moment? Being ready at all times! Most of the time outside, I like to shoot with very little depth of field to get a very non-distracting background and keep the attention on the subject. One of many advantages of a plain background in the studio is that the depth of field becomes less of an issue. I really like the freedom of more depth of field. It sure increases the possibility of getting a sharp image in a sudden situation like this one, shot on a Canon 1d Mark II at f.8 200 ISO Canon 70-200mm 2.8L at 75mm. Enjoy the new year :-)