Outdoor Lighting

You can apply virtually all the techniques you learned in the studio to your outdoors portraits. Once you've mastered short lighting, broad lighting, butterfly lighting, and the rest of the basic setups, you can use them outdoors by being flexible enough to work with the less controllable lighting you find there.

For example, you might have to position your subject to take advantage of the position of the sun as a "main" light, and use reflectors to create your fill. A search for some shady spot might be required to provide a soft enough light source. The sun might end up as your hair light. Figure 6.31 shows an outdoor portrait lit entirely with available light, using reflectors to fill in the shadows.

Figure 6.31. Using sunlight, reflectors, and other aids, you can duplicate good studio lighting, such as this portrait, outdoors.