Struggling with sunlight as main light

Craig L

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I am just getting back into photography and making my first dive into actually shooting models (shot nature photography for a long time).

I took this shot yesterday. This is my first real attempt at this kind of photography and I am struggling with lighting. I tried to use the sun as my main light with a gold reflector.

Standing-Running-Gear-Mountains.jpg


In this shot I used a flash with a diffuser.

running-mount.jpg


I would love some feedback on both. I know they are rough, I have thick skin.
 
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The sun is to small an apparent light source. It produces hard edged shadows, and very harsh light. The light from a gold reflector is just way overpowered by the ambient, direct sunlight.

In #1 your model has 'raccoon eyes'. In #2 the diagonal shdow across her left leg is distracting.

High quality people photos are not often made in direct sunlight, because it takes a lot of supplimental lighting power to overpower the sun and be the main light source. It mainly boils down to being an issue of control.

What people photographers do is put their subject in and near the edge of open shade and use the entire sky as their main light. That make the light source apparently very big, producing very soft edged shadows, nice soft light, and then a reflector can have a real impact
 
Yes Craig, not the best time of day for shooting people unless you can overpower the sun with some decent lighting. Best to shoot her again at dusk maybe throw in a little fill flash or have an assistant bounce the light back into her as she runs. If the sun is not golden I would just stick to the silver reflector as it will bounce the same light on her. The color of skin you can always change in Post Processing.
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Shoot well, Joe
 
Thank you for the replies. Heading out to try again with some edge of the shade shots.
 
No. 1 - I think there should not be any shadow else the shadow should not have been cut in between.

No. 2 - Same as No.1, I felt that the feet should not have been cut.
 

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