Any good tips for portraits on boring winter overcast days?

Braineack

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Have close family friends that want portraits outdoors sometime in the next week or so.

What do you guys do to liven up outdoor portraits where there's no color in the ground/sky/trees in these short overcast boring winter days?
 
Shoot 'em after dark? Throw some speedlights under trees for cool lighting?
I like this idea, xmas lights and drag the shutter a bit could be nice too instead of speedlights.
 
Find something bright to put them against/beside, and light them?
 
Have close family friends that want portraits outdoors sometime in the next week or so.

What do you guys do to liven up outdoor portraits where there's no color in the ground/sky/trees in these short overcast boring winter days?

First, don't use the sky as your backdrop. Use something else...old building or interesting wall...birch trees...Christmas lights...iconic space or location...a wall with posters. It hasn't happened yet here but once some snow and ice get up (on a wall or a rock face, a frozen waterfall) and the sun hits it you can get a lovely orange or even red.

Second, you can get some terrific sunrises and sunsets at this time of year, especially with the leaves down in the trees so you can see more of the horizon. Shoot in the golden hour, use fill flash and get you color via the sunset. Or manipulate it by shooting on an overcast day but using a gel on a speed light to add some orange and long shadows to the backdrop.

Third, go for B&W.
 
Do you have creative color-gels for your flashes?
 
No gels. They wanted to do 1pm, I got them to push to 3pm. Gets dark here at like 4:30, been gray dreary and overcast for last few weeks. Forecast for this sat [day of shoot] is partly cloudy. They want to do outdoor shots in a park, but there's nothing very interesting.

using tapatalk.
 
I opened this thread with the intention of suggesting patterns and shapes in black and white, and then I realized it was about portraits. And what the hell do I know from portraits? But I'd still recommend black and white, which has already been mentioned. Interesting shadows and contrast can take the place of golden light and vibrant colors.
 
Get creative with off-camera flash!
 
I'm assuming the park nearby you're looking at is Eleanor Lawrence. But even then, places like Sully Plantation and Udvar-Haazy are close to you. All 3 provide structures and buildings you can use as an interesting backdrop. And with Eleanor Lawrence, you can fake your own sunset by putting some red gels on speed lights, putting 'em low to the ground and bouncing them off the water.
 

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