I've Got Sunshine

Okay, no more song titles after this one. Well, we'll see. No promises.

On a bright sunny day (yay, love summer!), either stand in the shade or full sun, but not under a tree that has spots of light coming through it. This will not look good and will make editing way harder (if you are the editing type). Also, if you are taking pictures of a large group, make sure EVERYONE is in the sun or EVERYONE is in the shade. A diffuser is awesome to use, you just need someone to hold it although you can get some with stands too. It works to soften and even the light out.

Here is a picture we took using a collapsible diffusing panel in the bright, bright sun. One of these panels is about $30.00 off of Ebay and well worth it if you are doing any wedding photography or you just really, really care about your regular family photos:) We have not used it on our kids as we can't even get them to sit still.

The picture on the left shows what happens without a diffuser. Still a beautiful picture but see the sun light on her forehead and cheek? For the picture on the right, I was holding a diffuser. The downfall is that I am short so I cannot hold the diffuser very high and we may have to get an arm extension or something for it. This means the photo needs to be more of a closeup. Fortunately, my husband is tall so we just switch up who's taking the photos at different times.

We could've turned them so that they were perpendicular to the sun and in full light, but then we would have to change positions and the background would then not be ideal.

We have one that can act as a diffuser or reflector as seen on the link. This is beneficial because you can bounce warm golden light onto faces if they are in the shade.

Here's another picture where they were in the bright sun and the only shade was coming through the filtered light of the diffusing panel. Nice. No shadows, soft light.

(Beim shaq, if you are checking this, hope you are okay that I'm posting a picture of your beautiful daughter!)
Finally, time of day is soooooo important. Are you still reading? This is the most important part! Obviously with a wedding there isn't much flexibility as most brides don't want to have their photos done at 8am on their wedding day:) The best time is either starting at sunrise or an hour before sunset. You will definitely have a warmer, softer light. Try it. You'll see.

Any other topics you would like me to cover?