Fall in Indiana has a way of improving your mood. It's the only season where it can be sunny, rainy, cloudy, foggy, chilly....and no matter what, it's a great day outside.
I love the challenge that Indiana weather hands me. It's my job to create a photograph of someone that makes the viewer say, "Wow, I wish I was there!"
I've had brides in strapless gowns standing in darkness on lit gazebos in 15 degree temperatures in the snow.
I've had engaged couples traipsing through the forest on a 96 degree/90% humidity days.
But the bottom line to all of these photographs is this: Discomfort is not perceived in the final photograph.
In this photograph I exploited the deep rainclouds overhead. Instead of hiding them, I wanted to use them for dramatic effect.
By shooting from a low perspective, I was able to include a large segment of sky.
The added bonus of such clouds is the nice soft diffused light they give me. I supplement their soft, natural light to fill in gaps, but the overall result from such a day is very pleasing.
Working with sunlight can also be a challenge! While sunlight surely brings out those nasty, harsh shadows, it also brings out the nice saturated colors that can make a photo really POP! The secret is to not let those harsh shadows control you. When you're a photographer, YOU need to be in control. Ambient light is great....sometimes!
You can augment the sunlight with strobe, or you can simply reflect some of that natural light back onto your subject with a reflector. A fancy silver or gold "pop out" reflector works great, but so does a nice big hunk of white board.
The more you light your subject, the better the background can become. If your subject is backlit, the sky will be washed out in the attempt to lighten your subjects, plus your subjects will lack contrast and color.
Here I used the sun to halo-highlight their heads/hair, while using my Metz to fill in the faces. The sun on the hair is always a nice dramatic effect for women, and for couples.
The sunlit trees was an added bonus.
Additionally, you can find ways to exploit harsh sunlight. Use shadow play, look for patterns that shadows cast, and use them to your artistic advantage!
I did not set up this photo. The couple was walking to the spot (where the above photo was taken) and I whipped the camera up and popped off about 4 frames.
Sometimes the favorite shots aren't the ones you set up. In fact, that seems to be the rule rather than the exception, when shooting on-location sessions such as this one.
Shadows can make excellent portraits!
Try to find an interesting and relevant medium onto which to cast your shadow.
For little children, you could use a merry-go-round, or a patch of concrete that they've recently decorated with sidewalk chalk.
Here, we have an engaged couple against the Robert Indiana "Love" statue.
As my high school photography teacher, Kerry Brown, once told us: A camera is nothing more than a light-tight box.
It's what you do with it that makes you a photographer.
