On an early Saturday morning in the middle of winter I found myself in my back garden setting up lights and reflectors for my first photo shoot. My great friend Roxy was needing some shots for her website blog and with her being a South African, we couldn't miss the opportunity of the snowy background. I normally photograph landscapes, cityscapes and interiors so a model shoot was an exciting and very nerve wracking task.
Fortunately the sun was working with us and was creating a soft glow around Roxy so all I needed to do was set the reflector and the strobe light to balance with the natural light.
Everything was going great and the only changes that were needing made were upping the strobe to keep up with the rising sun and repositioning myself so I was catching a sunburst and flare in the shot.
The sun was shining and both Roxy and i were having a great time.
Time for lunch break and a change of wardrobe for Roxy. When we got back out things had changed. The sun was high and harsh and balancing the strobe with the natural light was a constant task. The second half shots came out with a very different look with a bit more zing and less glow as every time I tried to get the flare it gave more of a harsh glare, taking over the photo and washing out any details.
THE LAST OF THE SUN FLARE
I decided to flatten out the strobe and shoot tighter with less sky.
The whole experience was great fun and I really enjoyed this type of photography. Roxy was great and was a true professional even when standing, shivering inbetween strobe light and reflector adjustments.