One of my favourite lighting styles

I've always been a huge fan of natural light in portraits and photography. By natural light I mean the light occurring in a scene without the use of external strobes and studio lights. So in my early days as a photographer I loved the grey, overcast days where there was nothing but a nice, consistent, even light that created no harsh shadows, unlike the mid-day sun on a cloudless day. Luckily in the UK we get quite a lot of days like that ! Over time though I began to think I was missing a trick. The colour temperature of light early in the morning or in the evening on a cloudless day is beautiful and the sun when lower in the sky can be used to great effect for creative touches such as lens flare in a picture. It does however need to be tamed. Trying to shoot a portrait with the model looking into the sun when it's low in the sky is going to create the mother of all squints. The sun to the side will create some harsh shadows across the face and so my favourite position for the sun is behind the model, acting as a rim light. Shooting into the a bright back-lit scene will mean that the camera underexposes the models face, or the background will be blown out if the model is properly exposed and so I like to even things up by using a studio light or strobe to illuminate the model. This has become one of my favourite lighting styles where I'll balance the sun and the artificial light to create a beautifully balanced portrait. The example above was shot one early evening in May when the sun was still strong and above the horizon. It provides a beautiful rim light to illuminate the hair and it's particularly effective on models with lighter coloured hair. In front of the model was a studio light and a softbox to provide nice, soft, diffused light to properly illuminate the face and provide balance with the sun light coming from behind. The model, being 3 years old, was being very generous with her attention too I remember !