Using Light and Shadow in Your Portrait Photography

I recently had clients approach me about doing a maternity session. Great! I love to do maternity sessions because most times that means I get to do the newborn session, too. The problem is that this time of year we have daily afternoon thunderstorms, so I knew we couldn't use that "golden hour" of light that clients love and that make for breathtaking photos. So, what to do?

In it's essence, photography is basically a study of light and shadows. It all comes down to light and shadows. No matter what time of day you are shooting, whether in hard strong light or in very little light at all, you need to control your relationship between light and shadows. 

Because I knew I would be shooting during the brightest time of day (from 9am until 11am, the time when we can be sure to have no clouds) I knew I would be faced with very strong light and shadows. In this case, I had to find a way to control that light. The best place to start is to find open shade. This can be either under trees or in the overhang of a building.  You want to be close to the bright light so that you don't fight the shadows and you still have the catchlights in their eyes, but you want to be out of the direct beams that can blowout your hightlights.

In this case, we were walking around a park that had a petting zoo area. There was this lovely open, rustic barn and at the end I could see that I still had a tiny bit of directional light at the end of all that shadow. Behind the opening was another covered area for sheep and goats, so behind this little sliver of light was more shadow. I knew this would be a beautiful spotlight to put my little family.

All of these photos were shot on my Canon 70D with my Sigma 35mm ART lens. f1.4, ISO 100, 1/800. I kept the shutter speed pretty fast so as to not completely blowout my highlights and give good contrast against the shadows.

You can see in these photos that the subjects are positively glowing in light, but because they have shadows in front and behind them they are not overwhelmed in light. There is beautiful contrast that makes them really stand out and command focus of the image.

f1.4, ISO 100, 1/320.

When doing a maternity session, there are a few posing guidelines to keep in mind, such as: she should put weight on her back leg and bend the front leg a little, she should turn ever so slightly from facing forward to so we can see the silhouette, she should cradle the belly if her clothing does not give a clean line, she should keep her posture good, and above all they should look happy and comfortable. Other than those things, you should just let them be in love and interact with each other.

Next we walked around a little, and after taking some posed, more traditional style portraits on the grass in the shade of some trees we found a pretty little path that was almost completely dark with shade. Except for a tiny little sliver of light. Just as before, I knew that if I put them right into that light and controlled the highlights we would have more magic. 

f2.0, ISO 100, 1/800.

f2.0, ISO 100, 1/800.

f2.0, ISO 100, 1/800.

The key to using dramatic light like this is to keep in mind the contrast. Always watch their faces to make sure they are not covered by shadow, make sure you aren't blowing out the highlights so that you don't lose the details, and make sure to keep a balance between light and dark. Plus, it also helps to have clients who are willing to walk down dark paths with you. ;) Of course, I gave them the bright and happy posed shots, too. But these are my favorites, these are the ones that stand out from the work that all other photographers will do, and they are what make my work unique and sought after. 

I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any  questions at all about technique or managing clients expectations. Happy shooting!

Melissa Michaud

Lifestyle Photographer, Bebecitos Fotos

www.bebecitosfotos.com

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I take photos every single day of the year. See them at:

365project.org/bebecitosfotos/365