outdoors, the major problem I
see is lighting that is too soft and
lacks direction. This usually oc-
curs when the photographer uses
an enormous area of open sky as
the main light. This would be
great as the fill source, but it
doesn’t provide enough direction
to model a subject.
The “soft lighting is best”
mentality developed in the 1980s
and still prevails today. While soft
light was ideal for film, it looks
flat with digital; there just isn’t
enough contrast. Shadows are
our friends when working to
make our clients look their best.
Shadows thin the face, slim the
body, and increase the sense of
depth in our portraits. Unless
you’re photographing models,
your clients are probably far from
perfect and will appreciate this ef-
fect. Deep shadows over a wide
transition area can actually take
ten to fifteen pounds off of an
overweight person by slimming
their face, arms, waistline, hip
and thighs!
When working outdoors, you
can reduce the size of the main-
light source by finding an obstruction (building, hedge, grove of trees, etc.).
Then, pose the subject with their body turned toward the obstruction (the
shaded area) and with their face turned back toward the main-light source.
This sculpts the body and provides a thinner view. In most of my outdoor
portraits, I actually use the ambient light in the scene as the fill. I then add
reflectors, mirrored sunlight through a translucent panel, or studio flash for
the main-light source.
Choose the Style of the Pose.
Once you find out the purpose of the portrait, then you need to select a pos-
ing style that will be appropriate for the final portrait. Basically there are four
22 JEFF SMITH’S POSING TECHNIQUES FOR LOCATION PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
Without some shadows, the subject’s
face won’t have any shape, and that’s
not a flattering look for most people.