The lovely Elli with some warm summer backlighting
Every summer I aspire to shoot as many outdoor portraits as possible and inevitably 'stuff' (weather, responsibilities, scheduling issues, laziness) gets in the way and I end up never quite hitting my goal for the warmer months (which are fleeting here in Newfoundland). This year I managed to fit in 6 summer shoots with mostly brand new models - not bad!
During that time I stuck to mostly one location (Pippy Park) and tried to work with each model to make new/interesting portraits and leverage the space in different ways. The consistency did lead to some patterns but when something works, why not go with it!? Obviously having stunning subjects makes things much easier but the photographer has to get a little credit as well, right?!
Backlighting & Lens Flares
I won't pretend to be an expert on this topic so I'll leave a link or two to provide a bit more info or context but basically... "Lens flare can happen when a bright light source hits your camera’s lens. This light can show up in the form of circles, rings, starbursts, or an allover haze in your photo. Once considered an accident caused by flaws in a camera lens, lens flare is now a deliberate stylistic choice you can use to produce stunning results." With my Nikon 50mm f/1.5G lens it's really not hard to get some interesting and stylistic looks out of the setting summer sun.
Right off the main parking area of Pippy Park there's a lovely open grassy field where it's very easy to position a model in front of the setting sun and achieve the results seen here. There's definitely some focus issues and a need to bring back some contrast in post-processing but you can get very nice results without too much effort. It's also fun to adjust the camera position and frame the model between you and the sun to get different lens flares and hair/backlighting. Check out a few more samples below.
Besides the backlight and sun flare stuff, summer weather provides for more dress and outfit options. Also, since the ground isn't soaked, you can get down in the tall grass and get some different perspectives and lower angles that you might not try in a spring or fall shoot. You also get to include all the greens and flowers (and maybe even water now and again!).
Huge shout out to the wonderful models that made these images and sessions possible.
A few more favs and picks below from each of the sessions.
If you've made it this far I appreciate your dedication. As always, you can find all my recent work over on my Flickr photostream
