More often than not, photographers think ambient lighting will be easier to work with than dedicated artificial lights. You get more control over the exposure enabling the model to be more creative and flexible with artificial lights.
On the contrary, you must match the camera settings to that of the light for a correct exposure for shooting in ambient light.
What’s Natural Light?
Natural lighting is sometimes referred to as daylighting, as the photographer uses the ambient light around them to light up the frame of the photo they are capturing.
Working with this light form means you’ll need to determine the best time of the day to stand out in the sun for your clients, the location, and the best angles to not end up with an overly bright image.
Alternatively, you can use a reflector to bounce light in desired directions or a scrim to soften the light.
What’s A Studio Portrait Light?
Using an artificial light source to add to the pre-existing light or light up the frame in its entirety is done through studio lights. You could be using a single flash mounted on the camera or several off-camera lights. Moreover, this may be continuous lighting or in the form of strobes (flash when taking a photo).
The Correct Way to Use Portrait Light
Portrait lighting is either hard or soft, depending on the ratio of the source’s size compared to that of the subject. Hard light produces dark, solid, and more defined shadows, while soft light casts lighter shadows, with more gradual transitions between the brighter and darker regions of the photograph.
A bare flashgun is a hard light source, whereas softening the flashlight with a light modifier produces soft light. Lastly, light intensity decays with inverse square law may result in a light fall off, an effect used in portraiture that offers control of the light pattern on or around the model.
Which Is Better?
Different photographers prefer working with various forms of light — you could be using natural light, studio light, or even a combination of both.
You’ll want to choose the light as per the environment; for example, shooting in a bright sunny house may be ample light to work with for the effect you are trying to achieve, or if there’s isn’t enough light to produce a desirable product, you may add in one studio light or combination of multiple lights.
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