P#16 Q5D: How Do You Take Candid Shots Using Natural Sunlight?

The One Thing You Can Control

Bobbi Lane: Even though shooting candids in natural sunlight can be challenging, it still comes back to looking at what the light is doing. I tell this to all my students and some people are totally amazed by this.

I'm coming from a place where I control. I'm controlling my subject and they know I'm taking their picture, but photojournalists don't have any control over what their subject is doing. They can, however, decide where they're going to stand to create the photo.

For many years, I've been going to this particular powwow in Idaho and photographing the powwow dancers. The powwow dancers enter the arena from the east and then dance in a clockwise direction to the west.

I can't get into the arena. I can't control them. All I can do is decide where I want to stand so that when they come in front of my lens, I have some control over the way the light is falling on them.

For example, let's say I want to do candid photos of a parade. I need to ask myself where the sun is.

If the sun is over on the right side, then maybe I want to get on the left side so the parade will be backlit when they go by me. Or, if it's a late afternoon, maybe I want to stand so that the sun is directly behind me so the parade participants are walking into the late afternoon light.

When you're taking candids in natural sunlight, you may not be able to control where the subject of your photo is, but you still have choices to make that give you some control over the lighting. It's all a matter of looking at the light and then deciding where you're standing so that you can photograph what's going on.

Audri Lanford: That's fabulous. What about when there's low light?

Bobbi Lane: That's where those fast lenses come in really handy. My two favorite lenses of all time are my fast 85mm that I mentioned before and I also have a 35mm 1.4. That 35mm 1.4 I can use in really low light situations and hand hold and shoot wide open. It's just gorgeous.

I always tell people to invest in the best lenses you can. Even though they're expensive, you'll never regret it. The fast lenses will really help with the low light situations. Otherwise you have to go on the tripod.

When you go on the tripod, it doesn't mean that people have to be stiff. It just means that you need to have a little bit more control over what's going on.

Of course there is flash. Notice how I hesitated before I said that.

Audri Lanford: I'm surprised you even brought it up.

Bobbi Lane: We are talking about natural sunlight. You can use the flash and you can bounce it off a reflector. It will look like a soft bounced light. Or you can bounce it off the walls.

I don't recommend bouncing off ceilings too much because like an overcast day, all the light comes from above and you get shadows under the eyes.

I'd rather have more light coming into people than coming from above them. That low light situation can be tricky. I push my ISO up a little bit and using my fast lenses whenever possible.

In Summary

You can't control the sun and you can't control the subjects of your candid photographs. So how do you overcome those challenges?

According to Bobbi Lane, it's a matter of understanding how natural sunlight works and remembering what you can control - and that's where you stand in relation to where the light is, what lens you use, and if you can use reflectors.