Light can make or break any photo.  Regardless if you are using a professional body or your mobile phone’s camera, this simple tip can make a big impact on your natural light photos.  Sure, we all want that quintessential “I’m vacationing at the ocean” portrait.   There are times of the day (sunrise, golden hour) when posing in front of the ocean can work well, but most times of the day, your image will end up one of two ways.  Either the ocean and sky will retain detail and your subjects will be dark (see image below) or your subjects will be properly exposed and your sky will turn white.  Sure, I could add off camera flash or try to manipulate in photoshop (which is time consuming and likely won’t yield very natural results anyway) OR I could save the ocean photo for later in the day and do something that takes 2 seconds of my time.  Shift 45 degrees.

That’s it, folks.  That’s all I did to save this photo.  I had my subjects shift 45 degrees away from where they were standing and I followed.  The simplest shift can make a huge impact on your photographs.  Sometimes I’ll continue all the way into a circle to examine where I like the light best.  Then I’ll fire off a few more in that position. We are on vacation, after all.  Let’s keep things easy!

For more try this at home photography tips, click here and here.

Kami Friday is NH-based photographer specializing in natural light portraits of families, children, babies, maternity and newborns throughout New England. She is now booking custom portrait sessions for Spring and Summer 2015.  To book a session or if you have any questions, please contact Kami Friday Photography here.