Posing for any lighting

Today, I wanted to share one of my favorite posing tips with yall! How to pose in any lighting and get the best lighting.

I’ve heard other photographers praise overcast days. “It’s the perfect lighting!” and I used to be one of those photographers, until I learned the secret. Are you ready for it?

Let’s break it down into types of lighting.

Morning/Afternoon (not noon) full-partial sun.

When the sun’s out, it’s important that you think like Peter Pan. You need to be conscious of where your shadow is, and always keep an eye out for it. Line your toes up with your shadow. This will mean that your face won’t have any of the harsh shadows it would if you were facing the other way.

This trick also works for taking pictures under spotty shade (like an oak tree). If you weren’t facing your shadow in spotty shade, you would have polka dot of shadow and light on your face.

Overcast days

You would think, that posing during an overcast day is easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy… but it’s actually a little harder. Overcast lighting is opposite of full/partial lighting. You want to find the sun (hidden in the clouds) and face it directly. This will give your features just a little more depth and contrast.

Lastly, posing during high noon

Don’t do it. Just don’t. But I guess, if you’re forced to take pictures at the worst time of day, try to find some shade and face your shadow. The problem with high noon, is it’s harder to hide from harsh light because it’s directly above you instead of off to one side or the other.