Three Tips for Better Natural Light Portraits in the Sun

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In this video tutorial, Matthew Saville describes three essential aspects of natural light portraits using sun to create dramatic, vibrant images. If you keep these tips in mind, you'll have a solid foundation you can rely on even in tough daylight conditions.

[MatthewSaville]

Richie, almost all of those images were made quite a few years ago, when I was shooting with a crop-sensor DSLR and using the Sigma 50-150 f/2.8. It is a killer setup and I don't hesitate to shoot it wide open at f/2.8...

[CariveProductions]

I was close! Thanks my friend for replying. My favorite lens is the Canon 70-200 2.8 is II. I use it alot, and now I can recognize focal lengths(sorta) by looking at photos. Great stuff and content here. Thanks for sharing info!

[krupadamvideo]

Really enjoyed the tutorial and photos, thanks.
Can you touch on your which photos were done using a reflector, and what do you expose for. Seem like when shooting agains the sun exposing for the background your going to get the front of your subject pretty dark, yet you don't get that in your photos.

[Schizophonic]

Hi Matt, thanks for sharing, I love these kind of style photos and often how these are put together. I've been in similar situations with a subject but never really satisfied with how they come out. I will certainly try and use some of the basic rules you set out and see how it goes. Just a question if you dont mind answering, can you advise what your metering mode, does it make any different, also I assume your focus is on the subject's face only?

[twentyoneplusvideo]

Great tutorial, very informative and helpful!

[MatthewSaville]

Manual exposure, spot metering, but to be honest I put the most emphasis on my histogram and highlight warnings!

[youpeppe]

Matthew, those images are gorgeus!!! Great tecnique, really glad you shared it with us. Just one question: when you talk about bright sun is it always sunset sun or can be even morning?

[MatinDadib]

Thanks bro, you image is all beautiful! Are all this image you used spot/partial metering mode?

[MatthewSaville]

Adam, one thing I always do is look for natural reflectors. Looking at the images in the video, only the two lower right corner images MIGHT have had a reflector. The rest is just looking for a good natural light bounce!

=Matthew Saville=

[CariveProductions]

What aperture is you're favorite here? Looks like you're shooting on a 70-200 2.8.

[allanhle]

How do you meter the subject? It's would have been great, if you put the shooting info while doing the video.

[AF]

I would appreciate an actual tutorial on how you did this...it would help us visuals learners.

Thanks,
Zoe

[david]

Thank you. Now I just need to find a model... so hard to find anyone who wants to have their pictures taken. I always end up with pictures of my dog. lol.

[feaseyough]

Cool, I have a question, I want to join the military and I want a job in photography. I dont  want to be an actual photographer or a journalist or nothing like that. What I had in mind was the person who holds the reflector when the photographer is taking the picture. I dont want to be the photographers assistant though cause then that requires doing more work like carrying his bags and all his equipment around with him and other hard stuff like that, I am looking for a job that only specializes in holding the reflector, do they have that in the military?

[MatthewSaville]

Sunset, sunrise, mid-day, it all works the same as long s you're not shooting at the equator at noon. With even the slightest angle to the sun, you can get the sun off people's faces and look for shade...