Examples of natural light (or ‘available daylight’ a more accurate description) corporate staff portraits and portraits for private clients in London and locally within Surrey. Shooting with only the available light can be difficult to master. There are many considerations to account for such as time of day, light direction, reflected colours, background, choice of lens, iso and shutter speed /aperture.
The beauty of working with only the available light without adding supplementary lighting, is the ability to setup quickly with minimal and lightweight equipment which is always good if you have to haul gear up stairs or a long way from a parked car. More importantly it allows you to focus on the subject, is less distracting and intimidating for the subject and is very flattering if the ratio of shadow to highlight is balanced well. Natural light portraiture works well for small numbers of people and when constancy of look is not a priority. Typically the results provide a fresh open feel that is relaxed with lots of out of focus background.
The examples below range in complexity while still using minimal equipment such as reflectors, black or white cloth and diffusion.
