Natural Light
Authors: Goran Katić and Marina Ćosić
When photographing portraits, whether those are familiar faces for your 'home' album, or something more serious, you don't need all the enormous studio equipment…umbrellas, reflectors and such.
All you need is one window, the bigger the better (again, it depends on the effect you wish to accomplish) and a curtain, if possible. Natural light will give you more natural look than any kind of reflector.
Afternoon dusky rays of sun will do a great job of highlighting the face of your model as well as the weaker morning sun. Curtains on the windows can be used to define the amount of light going trough for your shooting, as well as the contrast increase.
Just make sure the model is not positioned between you and the window, otherwise, there will be no portrait; the sun behind will totally shade out the face and the body of the person you're photographing.
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