A Indirect Natural Light Photography Tutorial | Maris Ehlers Photography

If you've gone to one of my MEP Photography classes, I talk a lot about shooting in open shade, right near the edge of a line of direct sunlight. 


I quickly snapped a couple of head shots of my daughter after getting MOST of her hair cut off today in our... yes, one Facebook follower Keila Pries Gonzalez got it right... garage!  

I had her standing just a few feet back from the line of direct sunlight, and then I used a very low aperture (2.8) on a 70-200m lens so that the background would be so blurred it would be nothing more than some well blended colors.   One more thing to note: our garage faces direct west, so the sunlight shining in front of the garage was very direct due to it being afternoon here. 


After I posted the original picture, I got to thinking that this would be a great visual teachable moment for those who might be interested, so take a peek at the collage below.  You can see that the background is made up of much clutter (embarrassingly enough...):  a garbage can, the recycling bins, a soccer net, a poster on the wall, some balls and a dog, among other things! :)  





The strong light right in front of the garage reflects up and creates a nice even light source on the face.  


Give it a try... if you can separate your model from the background enough and shoot with a low aperture (make sure you have plenty of light), it should create a great background for you, too.