DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

How to shoot outdoor portraits using the sun as a back light

Oct 31, 2021 by Alex Baker Leave a Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

YouTube video

When you’re outside shooting on location you don’t always want to heft a lot of gear around with you, particularly if you don’t have an assistant. So how can you shoot dramatic portraits with just one light? Simple! Use the sun as your second light source. It’s relatively simple to do, requires no battery packs and creates a beautiful slightly cinematic look. In this video, Ashley from Westcott shows you how to do it.

The most important aspect for nailing this technique is shooting at the right time of day, that is, earlier or later in the day when the sun is lower in the sky. It doesn’t have to be golden hour or close to sunrise/sunset, but it helps. Position the sun behind your subject in a similar manner to how you might position a hair light in traditional studio portraiture.

You want to try to avoid lens flare. You can do this by using your subject or another object to block the sun from directly hitting your lens. You can also use a lens hood to help in this.

Next, you want to use your strobe as your key light. Using a light modifier will further help you shape the light how you want. Remember that this is about using and balancing the light from the sun, not about overpowering it so you don’t need a super-powerful strobe, a speedlight will actually work, although typically I like to use my AD200 inside a Photek Softlighter.

Typically when shooting with flash outdoors you want to set your exposure for the background and balance the ambient light first. Remember shutter speed controls the ambient, aperture controls the flash. Once you have the exposure you want you can bring in the key light (the strobe) and choose the aperture you want and adjust the flash power accordingly.

Of course, you can shoot backlit portraits without an additional flash, but then in order to get the subject lit bright enough you either need to use a reflector or you’ll be blowing out the background. With the flash technique, you can balance the background exposure with the subject, creating a beautiful dynamic image with catchlights in the eyes.

Once you get the hang of it it’s a simple technique and something I use a lot when shooting portraits in the golden hour. Here’s an example using the low angle of the sun just before sunset to light up the hair.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Overpowering the sun; Shooting outdoor flash portraits in harsh bright sunlight How to shoot amazing portraits in midday sun with only one light How to shoot portraits on location with outdoor flash 5 Tips to get great light for outdoor portraits

Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: lighting, portrait photography, Westcott

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.net

About Alex Baker

Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

« Nikon launches two free apps for tethering and transferring photos from camera to smartphone
New images from NASA’s Juno mission show Jupiter’s atmosphere spot in 3D detail »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • Holiday Gift Guide – Our favourite gadgets and accessories of 2023
  • Stability AI’s new AI generator creates images faster than you imagine them
  • AstrHori new 28mm f/13 2x Macro Periscope lens sees round corners
  • Sony World Photography Awards under fire for age limitations in Student contest
  • 5 ways to find inspiration when the weather is sad and grey

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy