Hello,
It's already this time of the year when the sun is here, the day is longer and the outdoor photos are MUST and honestly, these are my favorite too..:)
So I decided it will be useful to give you nice tips for gorgeous outdoor photos which are part of my personal experience as a photographer.
MY TIPS FOR GORGEOUS OUTDOOR PHOTOS:
1. Best season - People often ask me what is the best season for outdoor sessions and honestly, every season is the best season and it has its own colors and you can get gorgeous outdoor photos if you are not afraid to go out and explore. You can use snowflakes in the winter, colorful leaves in autumn, sunny warm days in summer or beautiful blossoms in spring. Just go out and start creating moments!
2. Best time - What is the best time of the day is the other question people ask me often and yeah the best time is the "Golden hour" - this is the time two-three hours before sunset or one-two hours after sunrise when you can avoid the harsh shadows on people faces. Of course, you can not always shoot at that time but just be aware to avoid the direct sunlight, use the shadows and in cloudy weather is good to have a reflector to get better results.
3. What to wear - It really depends on the whole concept of the photoshoot but simple natural colors are the best, with no stamps on your clothes and for families, the matching colors are very suitable so you can find the season color palettes here where you can choose between the seasonal colors to match...
4. Using a flash - Using an external flash is the most effective way to remove any shadows that may appear on the face of your subject. In this case, the external flash is acting as a fill light, so just try it and will not regret it!
5. Dreamy effect - When you shoot outdoor portraiture to achieve this nice and dreamy effect of your photos I really recommend you to shoot in Aperture Priority Mode or just to set a wide aperture to have a blurred background called bokeh. It's good to have a fixed focal length lens to create a soft and delicate bokeh and the most popular options are 50mm, 85mm and 135mm. Your aperture is good to be between f-1.8 and f-4 to have this blurred and nice background.
6. Focus - My advice is to always focus on the people eye's, The eyes are the most important part of every good portrait and also the sharper one so when you focus on eyes they will stay sharp but the skin will look softer.
7. Composition - It's essential for great portraits. Be sure to incorporate plenty of your surroundings into your images- look for interesting objects, colors and textures - blue sky, green fields or light through a tree. Also, you can look for interesting architecture, textures or statues to use in your images.
8. Posing - Guidance your subjects and put them in an easy and fun and relaxed atmosphere. If a certain pose isn't working then don't force it. Sometimes the natural poses of the subjects are the best ones.
9. Backgrounds - Remove distracting backgrounds and always looking for distracting elements in the background. Sometimes you just need to move a few inches in either direction or use the subject to block it out.
10. Change angles - For the best results trying different angles is very important to create a beautiful photo. It's advisable to get on your subject's level, especially if they are small children. Don't afraid to try everything!
These were my tips for gorgeous outdoor photos and people I really hope you will find them useful and easy to understand, the best thing with the photography is to keep trying new things all the time just because every person has a different view and different feeling about what is beautiful so this definitely will make your photos gorgeous in your own way and it will be unique!
If you have questions just connect with me and enjoy the beautiful weather..:)
xx Petya