Saturday was a gloomy overcast day with the threat of rain, but it was a perfect day to be outside shooting senior pictures. Surprisingly, the perfect sunny days we commonly think of can be a photographer’s nightmare, especially when shooting pictures during the mid-day when the sun is high overhead. A cloudy day, however, dampens all the shadows and positioning requirements a sunny day would cause and the overcast skies serve as a huge lighting softbox that diffuses light and makes everything more manageable. I had some light diffusers packed in the back of the Expedition just in case I needed help should the sun peek through the clouds, but never had to use them.
Instead, all I needed was my trusty assistant and off-camera flash holder. Her name is Natalie and she did a wonderful job!
The afternoon went well and I got some decent shots. I wanted to get more shots at different locations, but he was getting tired and clearly didn’t want to continue so we stopped a little earlier than I had originally planned. At least his parents were happy with the end results. I suspect I will be doing more of these in the future and even set up a site to display some of my amateur work. I enjoyed the challenge in the end and plan to improve my technique in the future.
