Ashlie and Chris 1

This isn’t very good, underexposed faces and quite soft too, I’m not going to paper over the cracks, I am going to be frank, I have learnt much from people telling me as it is and I believe in it.
To be fair though it is shot in a difficult lighting situation and there are some clear improvements that can be made and problems that could have been avoided in the first place.
Firstly in a situation like this the only way round it is to have at the very least a reflector to put some light back into the faces, dome form of diffuser to soften the light or an off camera flash, preferably with a diffuser, even an on camera flash gun with no diffuser can be of some use if handled well, for the sake of this critique though I will assume you have no such available amenities, although with a fair reflector costing around £35 you should have at least that.

So on to plan B, you have no available light modification equipment, so you need to adapt to what you have, you have strong side lighting and fairly string back lighting, to expose that correctly will mean, especially shooting digital Jpeg, that the front detail in shadow will be moderately to badly underexposed, it is.
So now you need to learn how to deal with that or you will have the same problems again and again etc.

1. find a position or place there the light is more even and if possible with softened frontal light, under trees can be good, with the light scattered as it filters through the leaves, not always ideal, but an improvement.
2. Somewhere that has a frosted glass roof, ok, not the easiest thing to find at times, but they do exist and if you see one use it.
3. In the shade of a building wall etc, where there isn’t also strong direct sunlight as this will over expose.
4. Often not an option, but an overcast day, very soft light, lacks contrast but better than hard sunlight.
5. As 4, but a semi overcast day, broken cloud with fairly soft light and a little contrast, wait and watch the light, as cloud starts to obscure the sun start to shoot, you don’t get much time before the light drops off too much and it is too dark, so watch your exposure and adjust accordingly, when the sun comes out again stop, often a fair method here in the UK.
6. Choose your time of day, shooting in mid day light isn’t good, the light can be very harsh and from above which can cause deep shadowing in the eye sockets, its not good.
Shoot earlier or later in the day when the light is softer as it has to pass through more of the earths atmosphere which softens it, it also changes the colour of the light to a warmer colour, can be nice some times, but be careful as it can make skin look orangey, watch your white balance and adjust accordingly if possible.

This isn’t just about your lack of experience with people photography, its more about understanding light and how your camera sees it and knowing how to adapt and or use it to your advantage.
Sorry if you think its harsh, its honest, with my brand of honesty, hopefully it should help.

Some examples.
Strong back light, filled with on camera flash gun at approx 1/3 power matching exposure with background sky.
Stance II
Shot, winter afternoon, sun low in sky metered to match subject and background as closely as possible, no flash.
Laughing
Shot, summer, harsh sun, waiting for the sun to partially obscure with cloud, no falsh
Thoughts