A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of shooting a couple photoshoot for Cameron and Heather. It was quite a challenging shoot due to some particularly bad light. Here’s how I dealt with it.
I met Cam a few years ago when I shot his portrait for my 47 / A Life With Cystic Fibrosis project so it was really great to be able to catch up and work together again.
Photoshoot location
We arranged to meet up at Golden Acre Park. I had a family photoshoot there recently so was familiar with the location. It was also just round the corner from Cam and Heather’s house so it was the perfect location.
Dealing with low light and poor conditions
The conditions were pretty terrible to be honest. We were coming off the back of some great weather and on this particular afternoon the dark clouds had rolled in. It was almost complete darkness under the trees. Not ideal when you’re a photographer working with natural light.
Why not use artificial light?
I’m comfortable shooting with artificial light in a more formal situation but I really favour natural light for family and couple shoots like this.
Because of the way I work, we tend to be on the move a lot. I try and avoid giving any strict direction unless it’s needed. My preference is always to let my subjects relax and behave naturally. I see my job primarily as a documentary photographer, capturing those natural moments as beautifully as I can.
If you’re lugging a light stand, brolly or even just a large reflector around then those elements conflict with the natural mood I’m looking for. You create a more formal scenario and the subjects behave accordingly. Plus, I don’t have an assistant. I have enough to concentrate on during a photoshoot without worrying about light stands and the like.
Working with what you have
We don’t always get to choose the conditions and it’s important to be able to adapt. With the light being poor I stuck to my trusty EF 50mm f/1.2L USM and shot fairly wide. This allowed me to suck in as much light as I could find.
Modern DSLR cameras perform brilliantly even in low light so to compensate for the conditions I cranked my ISO up to around 1600. I normally prefer to keep this lower but I didn’t want to introduce camera shake so I was happy to make the compromise given the circumstances.
Adapting to changing conditions during the photoshoot
Conditions did improve a little thankfully. As the session went on the clouds parted a little and we were rewarded with nice soft light.
Towards the end of the session I was able to switch to my Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM, compressing the background and really making Cam and Heather pop against the trees.
