Help! I need some outdoor lighting

You wouldn’t really need anything for this, other than a cheap light diffuser.

This is all that has been used in the photo you linked to. Perhaps a fill-in flash was used for the shadows on the other side of her face, but it’s not necessary.

I would recommend getting a 5-in-1 reflector from somewhere like Amazon or your local camera store. These are very useful, and also have reflective sides for different uses. For example, a gold reflection for warm light, plain white for a neutral reflection.

I’ve put a link as the source to a 43″ relfector, similar to one I have. They are extremely useful, particularly the translucent disk which is what you are most likely looking for.

I hope this helps

Source Link: AmazonUK 5-in-1 Reflector 43 inch

By: Sam Turley   313

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Hi Sam, thanks for responding to my question about lighting. Funny i bought that refelctor you were talking about last year at a going out of business sale but had no clue how to use it or what it did. Where would i position it at? Like if she is sitting in the sun would i block the sun with it?

By: LISAWARNERPHOTOGRAPHY   6

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oh and i have a external flash for my camera as well. So you really think this would be enough? Have you ever worked with the gel for the flash?

By: LISAWARNERPHOTOGRAPHY   6

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Hi Lisa,
An answer to your first question, if the model is facing the sun, and you want some soft, diffused light on the model’s face, then use the translucent disk, get someone to hold it up for you, use a stand, or hold it up yourself infront of the sun. This will diffuse the light coming onto the model’s face and create the softer look.
Make sure to have the disk away from the camera, so you can’t see it in the shot, and to also have the diffused light covering the entire body, otherwise you will get a shadow of the ring around the model. To do this, just move it further away until you can’t see the ring in the viewfinder.

You could also position the model with the sun to the side of her, or behind her, then use either the non-translucent white, silver or gold sides on the other side of the model, to reflect the light back onto the other side of her face, evening out the shadows.

An answer to your second question, yes using a flash gun will be good enough to fill in the shadows, but you may need remote triggers for it, so you can position the flash off-camera, otherwise you will just get flat, boring lighting on the model, and it won’t really help if one side of the model is lighter than the other already. If you were to do this, you put the flash on the shadow side of the model, just to even out the light. But make sure to have a diffuser on the flash if you’re doing this.

Also, I have never used gel’s for flashes. I don’t see any point in using them if you’re doing a shoot where you want the model to look natural. If you wanted a warm tone on the model and are using a flash, what I normall do is position the flash, pointing at the gold side of the reflector which is aimed at the model, so it bounces off the reflector then into the shot, which is much nicer than just having a coloured filter.

Hope this helps. If you need any further help on how to use reflectors outdoors, just search it on youtube – there’s some pretty good tutorials on how to use them.

By: Sam Turley   313

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Ken Rockwell has plans on his website for a one-cent soft-box! I would imagine it’s more helpful indoors, but I love the concept, especially considering how expensive Photography can get, so it’s nice that a piece of equipment can be almost free once in a while

Source Link: One-Cent Soft Box

By: pablohungry   30

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