There’s no such thing as bad light

One of the joys of living in Cache Valley, Utah, is our six month winter 🙂  Okay, its not truly six months, but I typically bundle up from October-May.

I love living here with all my heart, but had to convince my warm blooded husband that he could survive the below freezing winters by promising all the awesome outdoor clothing gear his heart could imagine…

Because, as my mom likes to quote from the Lands End Catalogue,

“There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing!”

I’ve since determined the same is true for light.

There’s no such thing as bad light, only the wrong use of it.

99% of my shoots in 2011 have taken place at either 11:30 a.m. or 3:30 p.m.

Why?

Because that is when I have a babysitter.

My #1 trick for good light at those challenging times of day?  

BACKLIGHTING!!!  (Did you hear me sing that with operatic vibrato?!)

These images of Nichelle (a.k.a. Amy Adams look alike), were all shot around 3:30 p.m. in an open field.

Hooray for backlight!

 

Want to learn more about backlighting?  Check out Elizabeth Halfords series on her blog HERE.

Brooke Snow is a Lifestyle photographer in Cache Valley, Utah.  Here are five things that make her happy: a clean house, Mocha cake (but only the kind her mom makes), hiking in the mountains, family trips to the farm, and hot showers.  She’s pretty easy to please.

Brooke teaches inspiring online photography classes that bring you confidence in your skills and creativity.

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8 Responses

  1. I totally agree! I’ve had beautiful sessions at high noon, and one of my recent faves was during a rainstorm with umbrellas. I think you don’t have to wait for good light, you just have to find it. It’s everywhere. 🙂

  2. Haha! I didn’t even know who Amy Adams was, by name, but I knew exactly who you were talking about anyway because Nicole looks almost EXACTLY like the actress!

    I’ve been really enjoying Elizabeth’s blogs on backlighting. It’s a technique that I really need to practice!

  3. L.O.V.E. this post. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve been told “can’t” “don’t” “never” when it comes to light. Makes me want to run outside and find noon sun!

    Thank you!

  4. Question for you about your backlighting technique. Your images have such even lighting, but I don’t notice lens flare in any of them. How do you avoid that? Do you have a filter of some type on your lens or is it strictly technique? I’m super curious about this. Most of the year we have no direct sun and very cool light, but every time I try this in a “cloudless” sky, I get lens flare. Thanks!

    1. hi Beth!

      To avoid sun flare when back lighting you simply need to shade your lens. You can use a lens hood to shade the lens, or use your hand… or if necessary, go to even greater lengths and have someone stand over you with something shading your camera (I usually only need to go to that type of effort towards the very last part of the day). Hope that helps!

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