P#16 Q2: How Can You Use Natural Light in Photography at Any Time of Day?

Rule One

Bobbi Lane: It's actually very simple. It's about opening up to be aware of what the light is doing. My number one rule is no direct sunlight, except for that first and last hour. We don't want those hard shadows and those bright highlights.

There are exceptions to that rule, however. There are times when you are looking for a particular effect where that hard light will work with your concept. Concept, of course, is the most important thing in any photograph. Otherwise, there's light everywhere. It's not direct sunlight.

Again, we forget. We think, "What do you mean? If you're not in direct sunlight, then there's no light."

Of course there is.

There is window light, backlighting, shade -- there are a whole variety of things that are like that. There is light that is bounced off the building; there are overcast days.

All of those things provide a tremendous amount of light and different qualities of light without there being in the direct sun.

I think a lot of us are taught when we were lined up for family portraits as kids, to be put directly in the light. But that's absolutely the worst thing that you can do!

Turn it around -- backlight them so they've got a nice halo of light on them. Then you realize what is actually lighting their face.

Rule Two

This brings me to my second rule. My second rule is stand where your subject is and look at the light.

What do I mean by that?

If you go stand in the shade, if you go stand under a tree and look around, what's the brightest thing that you see?

It's probably going to be the sky. Therefore the sky is the light source, not the sun, not the tree -- it's just the sky. Whatever is the brightest thing you see, that is where your light is coming from.

You'll have a much better understanding about the direction of the light and the quality of light by doing that.

I've been shooting professionally for 30 years. Whether I'm in the studio or whether I'm using natural light, I still go stand where my subject is and look around to see where the light is. I have a much better understanding then of what is actually going on.

Rule Three

The third rule is to understand that skin is reflective.

Skin is kind of like a mirror. It's softer than that -- obviously -- but skin is reflective so by standing where your subject is and looking around, you also see what is surrounding the subject. Understand that's going to reflect back into the skin tone.

For example, if you had somebody sitting on green grass under a tree in the shade next to a green bush and they're wearing a white shirt, then they're probably going to pick up a lot of green in their skin tone because the skin is reflective. It still comes back to that key of being aware but you can do it anytime.

It's just a matter of getting it out of the direct sunlight and then understanding the different aspects of light.

In Summary

If you want to use natural light in photography at any time of the day, there are three rules to follow. According to Bobbi Lane, you need to understand how light works, know where it's coming from and realize that the colors surrounding your subject will be reflected by the skin. Then you can use natural light in photography at any time of day.