Village Idiot
No longer a newbie, moving up!
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2008
- Messages
- 7,269
- Reaction score
- 406
- Location
- Shepherdsturd, WV / Almost, MD
- Can others edit my Photos
- Photos NOT OK to edit
Just looking at the end photos and not knowing who shot them or under what conditions, when advanced flash photographers want a natural light look, they achieve it. So no, you wouldn't choose the natural light 100% of the time, because you wouldn't even know which is which.Going to Ethiopia? Going to pack some monolights that are strong enough to overpower African sunlight as well as external power sources? Probably not.
Shooting outdoors in Africa is quite different than shooting in the states in a home studio. There is absolutely not a reason to limit yourself to available light coming in through a window. That kinda puts a poop blanket on any prospects of doing a shoot on a cloudy day.
Without accessible, consistent lights indoors, you are at the mercy of the weather. It also will significantly cut down shooting time during the winter. Being a "natural light photographer" is kind of a joke. And by "kind of" I mean I laugh out loud every time I read "I am a natural light photographer."*
*Unless the natural light photographer has some kind of god tier portfolio.
Still disagree with you if you have mastered your craft you have mastered it whether it is strobes or available light. There are famous natural light photographers who given side by side with an advanced flash photographer I would choose the natural light 100% of the time. Maybe it is preference I do not know but I also think they get a bad wrap when in all actuality they are seriously talented.
Obtain and read all of Joe McNally's books, and you'll see plenty of examples of this.
This is not to say that photographers who use only natural light cannot get good results. Obviously, they can, IF the available light is available AND will work to their advantage. And that's the crux of the biscuit: They're limited by that available light, time of day, angle associated with their subject(s), atmospheric conditions, etc., etc., etc., whereas a photographer who can use either available light OR flash effectively is not constrained or limited.
He said what I was going to.