Outdoor Studio Photography

Would you like to have the option to take your portraits outdoors?

I have the equipment to make it happen. During this particular photo session, I had my camera around my neck and a light stand in each hand, walking through the park. I was able to set up a studio within moments of finding a suitable location.  In the image above, I had one flash aimed at the kids in the background, and another for their mother who was sitting much nearer to me. The light on their hair was the setting sun and added a beautiful glow to each of them.

Standing on the River-walk bridge, I wanted to capture the beautiful fall colors and the river behind them, as well as show off  the family. Without the benefit of my studio lighting, I could either get the family or the background properly exposed, not both. By balancing the natural light with my portable lights, I am able to capture what my eye sees, without having to take multiple exposures, and then Photoshop the background in behind them.

Being near the river, there is no shortage of trees, but we didn't want to walk through the woods to get a shot like this. By making use of a fallen log we photographed different combinations of Megan with her children. Getting down low and cropping in close you get the sense of being surrounded by the forest. You'd never know the trail is ten feet behind me.The sunlight was peeking through trees in the background, and their faces were lit by my portable lights.

I have noticed that little boys would rather climb and jump around instead of posing for a portrait, so I  incorporate this energy into a natural pose that he has no trouble getting into.

After the family portraits were shot, I took the opportunity to photograph Megan without the children to give her some beautiful images of herself.

Here, I had each of them stand about five feet apart and face slightly different directions while I photographed them from about fifteen feet away. They were in complete shade from a large tree off to the left, so I set my lights just out of view to brighten them all. The individual shots of the children below were taken within moments of the above family portrait. I did not change my position, I just zoomed in on each of them to create a shallow depth of field, blurring the background.

Once again, I am using the sun as a natural rim light, and lighting their faces using flash. By doing this I am actually eliminating the squinting eyes that tend to happen by photographing someone looking into the sun. My lights are on portable stands and positioned away from the camera so you don't get the pre-flash flinch you might see in photos taken using the on-camera flash.

This is one of the last images from our session. The sun had dipped just below the tree line, but was still high enough to light the tops of some of the trees in the background. By supplying my own light, I was able to keep shooting and create portraits with light that wraps around my subjects. If I were shooting with natural light alone, the light would be very flat, and the people would be dark and have a bluish color cast, similar to the rocks in the background here.

Thank you for taking the time to view and appreciate my photography.

I am always looking for new models to collaborate on new ideas.

I am currently located in Aztec, New Mexico, USA

For more about me and my photography click here