Shooting Portraits In The Sun

We all have thought on a sunny day of going out on a sunny day with friends and trying to shoot their portraits, only to find uneven light on their faces leading to not so good portraits. Many beginners think that a sunny day will produce the best images but in reality a cloudy day is far better for shooting portraits than in the sun. In this article, we will discuss why a cloudy day is better, and talk about how one can still shoot great portraits in the sun.

- Souradeep Roy

Why is shooting portraits on a cloudy day better than shooting on a sunny day, one might ask. The answer is that when we are shooting portraits we look for soft light, which will fall evenly on the face without creating shadows under the eyes or the nose or below the chin. Harsh sunlight does exactly that. How does a cloudy day produce soft and even light would be your next question. On cloudy days, the clouds disperse the light and act as a softbox which in turn does not let the image lack detail in the shadows and have completely burned out spots. It creates an even light that falls on your subject’s face.

Summer in India lasts for at least three months, during which photographers still shoot outdoor portraits. Let’s discuss the ways you can adopt to utilise the sunny days for shooting.

Use shadows

In summers, trees provide a good amount of shade where the light is uneven but when used well might provide for great portraits! The shade and light seeping through the leaves can be used quite well to shoot artistic portraits. Even if you find enough shade under an asbestos or any artificial canopy you will see that the light is much more even there.

Using reflectors