The Outdoor Portrait

• see also:
  • portraiture
• on the net:
  • http://www.jessicaclaire.net/ - check out her great wedding photography
  • http://www.365portraits.com - Bill Wadman's portrait project
  • http://www.100portraits.net/ - Matthew Boyle's portrait project
  • http://www.studiolighting.net/killer-headshots-the-cheap-way/ - David Griffin's portraits in the sun
  • http://www.studiolighting.net/10-pieces-of-lighting-equipment-for-under-60-dollars/ - David Griffin's cheap lighting accessories for portraits

Portraits outdoor:

• in general, the full sun between 10am-3pm or so, casts unflattering, harsh shadows on the face, thus most fashion photographers avoid shooting during these times in full sun, so what can we do to make the most of shooting outdoors?
• try to avoid bright backgrounds:
  • the viewer's eye tends to be drawn towards the brightest parts of the image - in general, you will want this to be your subject - not the background
  • ensure colours of the background compliment the subject 
• consider using a long focal length lens as this will:
  • compress the background and this enable you to choose a less distracting background
    • if you are lucky enough to have a great background that will add to the image, then a wider angle lens may be the best choice to add drama or a more unique image
  • blur the background more and thus make it less distracting - especially if you can use a wide aperture
  • keeps you a comfortable distance from the subject
• shoot at dawn or dusk:
  • usually the glow from the horizon at 20min or so around sunrise/sunset casts a flattering light on a model although it will be very warm and may need some color correction.
  • this gives you reduced contrast compared to direct sunlight at other times, but still directional lighting
• shoot in the shade:
  • the broad lighting of the sky is very soft and when positioned well makes for a flattering photo, but tends to be quite cool and thus often needs color correction.
  • without additional lighting though, the sunlit background will be quite over-exposed and likely to be washed out.
  • ideally, you need to ensure it has some direction to avoid being too flat:
    • consider placing subject near an object (eg. a tree or under a roof of a shelter) which will block some of the light, but still give a nice "wall of light" from one direction as your key light
    • consider adding some directional light by using a reflector
      • sometimes sunlight or sky light bounced from a building can be a great key light, sunlight behind the subject being reflected from red brick buildings can be great, as can open sky light bounced off a white wall 
  • if there is light falling through leaves that creates splotchy shadows, consider using a gobo to block it - this is particularly important for blond hair or light clothing which will end up having blown out highlights otherwise.
  • consider finding a location that gives a 3:1 contrast ratio:
    • use two gray cards at 3:1 difference in tone, hold them at right angles with the darker one towards the light source
    • when both cards appear to be the same tone, you will have 3:1 contrast ratio
  • you may wish to add a silver reflector in front of the subject and below to add more punch to their eyes
  • see http://www.studiolighting.net/killer-headshots-the-cheap-way/ 
• wait for the sun to be blocked by trees, etc:
  • use the light from the bright sky around the sun
  • this adds sparkle to the subject's eyes and a nice glow without being too contrasty
• shoot with subject lit by the sun, preferably backlit or only partly lit:
  • if backlit:
    • risk of lens flare - ensure sun does not directly hit lens unless you want flare
    • risk of auto-focus failure - check focus carefully
    • risk of dust, flying insects becoming prominent if dark background
    • subject less likely to squint
  • here we have two main options:
    • expose so that the sunlit areas areas marginally over-exposed (eg. 0.5 stops):
      • ie. test for yourself, but could use ISO 100, f/11, 1/150th (if use a polariser then can open up to f/5.6-6.3)
        • to get narrow depth of field, the options are (more details of comparisons here):
          • Canon 350D, etc with ISO 100 (actually about 125) and flash sync of 1/200th or Olympus E series at ISO 100 and 1/180th sec:
            • f/11 (if use a polariser then can open up to f/8)
            • you may need a 3 stop ND filter and powerful flash, then hope you can see through the viewfinder (not such a problem with live preview of the Olympus E330)
          • Nikon D70 with ISO 200 and flash sync of 1/500th:
            • f/8 (if use a polariser then can open up to f/4-4.5)
          • Olympus 8080 at ISO 50 and flash sync of 1/300th sec:
            • f/5.6 (if use a polariser then can open up to f/2.8-3.5)
          • Olympus E-series at ISO 100 with a Super FP flash which can sync up to 1/4000th sec:
            • f/2, 1/4000th - using the Olympus FL-50 flash at 50mm focal length, max. GN becomes 5.0
          • medium format ISO 100 film with flash sync 1/500th sec:
            • f/6.3 (or f/3.5-f/4 with polariser)
          • 35mm film ISO 100 with flash sync 1/60th sec:
            • f/16-f/20
      • gives good highlights to the subject's hair and anywhere else it falls, while the sunlit background is not too over-exposed (if the background is primarily sky, one could use a polariser to help darken it)
      • requires a fill light to ensure face is not too dark (perhaps aim for 0.5 stops under-exposed):
        • reflector:
          • depending on reflector, will need to be 2-3 feet from subject
          • many use a gold reflector but while this may look good on tanned skin, it may also make the eyes look sickly
        • fill-in flash:
          • adds catch-lights to the eyes
          • but avoid unwanted secondary shadows - consider butterfly lighting - ie. flash in same plane as subject's nose
          • unfortunately, fill flash requires precise amount of fill to avoid it appearing unnatural
    • expose for the shadows:
      • sunlit highlights and background will be 3 stops over-exposed and almost certainly washed out
      • risk of lens flare increases
      • needs color correction as shadows too blue
• place a diffuser between sun and subject:
  • this creates an effect similar to that of sunlight on a day with high cloud, but the sunlit background will be over-exposed by 0.5-1 stops
  • try making a white diffuser from 5'x12' ripstop white nylon and attaching to two L shaped PVC pipe sections, then place this BEHIND and ABOVE the subject with the sun BEHIND it. This will allow for a HIGH KEY outdoor portrait in the midday sun ala Monte Zucker - see http://www.studiolighting.net/studio-quality-high-key-lighting-without-the-studio/ 
  • of course, if the diffuser is quite dense then it becomes like shooting in the shade

Key shifting:

• here we reverse the usual flash-ambient ratios (ie. key shift), so that the flash becomes main light and ambient is under-exposed and acts as a bit of a fill.
• now this can be difficult in bright conditions due to the limitations of flash output and flash sync speed.
• let's take an easy example, on a overcast day:
  • ambient light reading (incident from clouds) gives ISO 100, f/4 at 1/180th sec (the fastest flash sync speed for most cameras)
  • now, to under-expose ambient we are forced to either:
    • use an aperture smaller than f/4, eg. f/5.6 or f/8, but this may result in too much DOF for our liking, although it should be fine for edgy, everything almost sharp editorial style portraits.
    • use f/4 with a polariser filter which will reduce flash and ambient light by 1.5-2.5 f stops depending on its rotation
      • let's say it reduces light by 2 f stops, this now means the correct aperture for ambient light exposure is now f/2, but if we want to under-expose ambient, we must use f/2.8-f/4 depending on how much under-exposure, but at least now we have more limited DOF for a more sensual, intimate portraits.
      • of course, instead of a polariser filter, we could use a ND filter of 2 f stops for similar effect.
• for an edgier effect:
  • try putting an orange filter on the flash and setting WB to tungsten, this will give almost neutral skin tones while creating a nice blue under-exposed ambient background.
• now, for a sunny day we run into problems:
  • sunny 16 rule for ambient sunlit scenes gives exposure ISO 100, f/16, 1/100th sec approximates to f/11, 1/180th
  • now we really do need to resort to using a 2 stop ND or polariser, which will give ambient exposure of f/5.6, 1/180th sec
  • now we need to underexpose sunlight, so need to set actual aperture to f/8-f/11 depending on desired amount of under-exposure
  • now to calculate flash output needed, if we set aperture to f/8, this is really f/16 taking into account the filter, and if using direct flash 2m from subject, this means flash output GN must be at least 2x16 = 32(m) at ISO100, easily within the realm of most external flash units, but in-camera flashes won't have enough power (they usually have GN 11-13 in metres).
  • the difficult starts to arise when using flash to bounce or through softbox or at a distance, then you really need more powerful flashes.
  • the other difficulty is if you really want to use a wide aperture, the solutions to this are either:
    • use a medium format film camera with flash sync at 1/500th sec, this will allow aperture of  f/6.3, 1/500th for ambient light exposure, but with polariser, this becomes f/4.5 and thus to under-expose ambient we can set an aperture of f/6.3-f/8.
    • use a camera-flash system that allows use of high-speed flash sync mode (although the higher the shutter speed, the less maximum flash output is available - so move it closer or get the highest output flash).
      • most current digital SLRs with dedicated flash units allow this mode which was 1st invented by Olympus.
      • shutter speeds to 1/8000th sec are possible allowing wide apertures even in ssunlight.