For those who find reading a computer screen to be tedious. . .

We made you a video.

1. A series of thunderstorms roll through Colorado Springs.

2. Rain waters generate an explosion of fresh flowers.

3. We capitalize on this unique situation for environmental portraits.

4. We quickly get in over our heads and narrowly avoid disaster.

ASHLEY FAY
MODEL

LEWIS CARLYLE
PHOTOGRAPHER

Shooting environmental portraits can be tricky. For the most part, we find ourselves at the mercy of Mother Nature. She provides the sun, the wind, the flowers and the location. In other words, we control pretty much nothing. In the photography world, this can easily spell disaster.

Here’s the problem: we have a field of beautiful flowers that are being completely hammered by harsh sunlight. For those who don’t know, harsh sunlight is the mortal enemy of soft light, which is ideal for portraits.

For years, photographers have been contending with harsh sunlight by deploying an arsenal of really cool gadgets such as flashes, diffusers and reflector dishes. Trouble is, we don’t have any of that stuff.

We plan our shoot for the end of the day. Our hope is to take advantage of some nice magic hour light. Just before the sun drops below the horizon it emits a beautiful orange glow.

Bask your model in this warm light and you will see an angelic vision of photographic utopia. The light is so beautiful, in fact, that we may even be willing to overlook a few pesky shadows casting about Ashley’s face.

Fortunately for us, Mother Nature giveth, and Mother Nature taketh away. In our case, she giveth a few baby clouds and taketh away our harsh sunlight for a few fleeting seconds.

With soft orange light filling the air, we are able to create a very spiritual moment. Ashley glows with a golden hue and we fire off as many frames as we can to capitalize on this brilliant light.

As the sun drops below the horizon, we no longer face the cat and mouse game of light and shadow. The ambient glow of dusk is universally soft, giving us very flattering light to finish off our portrait session.

From here, we drop into a small patch of broom sage and align ourselves ever so carefully to create the illusion of an infinite golden wheat field. This is a little tricky, considering that just off to the left we have a bike path, kids on skateboards and mommies pushing strollers.

Fortunately, the telephoto lens allows us to isolate Ashley with a shallow depth of field. Background distractions are eliminated and the wheat grass blurs away softly into a vast golden sea of color.

This shoot definitely stretches us to the limits of our comfort zones. When it comes to outdoor portraits, we typically like to tuck our subject into the shade for nice, soft light. And yet, here we are, standing in a field of flowers surrounded by blinding, direct sunlight.   

In the end, a little taste of luck floats our way as a few wispy clouds nestle up against the mountains to soften the last rays of magic hour glow. What could have been a disastrous spider web of dark shadows painting Ashley’s face turns into a soft, angelic scene.

So. . . the next time you pass a field of flowers, Mother Nature might just be presenting you with a unique opportunity.

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