Videos

Julia Trotti's behind-the-scenes footage from a natural light fashion shoot in Poznań, Poland, photographed on a 50mm lens. Set to music rather than commentary, the clip follows the model around the location as Julia works with daylight; a companion film by Dan and the finished images appear on her blog.

Julia Trotti spends an hour in fields with model Kristina Srzich, who suggested a loose, playful shoot of running and strolling rather than formal posing. She asks for repeated runs towards the camera, noting that the first few frames carry the best energy, and lets natural laughter and movement lead.

Roman Fox offers tips for grey overcast weather: overexpose by 0.3 to 0.6 stops, find contrast by shooting from dark places into brighter ones, let a blank sky blow nearly white, and seek a few colourful elements. An Edinburgh scene is edited in Luminar Neo with curves, HSL and temperature.

Lindsay Adler, challenging Matthew Jordan Smith and David Ziser to a shoot-out at PPE, picks a hotel hallway with windows on both sides needing no strobes. A 24-105mm at a long focal length compresses the pillars to hide signage, and an eBay parachute tucked into the gown adds movement.

Michael Sasser, in Haiti, reduces natural light to two situations. In direct sun he places the sun behind the subject so they stop squinting, shadows soften and hair gains a rim light; in indirect light he points the subject's nose towards the brightest area, such as a window.

Bach Photography shoots golden hour portraits with a Sony A7R II and Sigma 85mm f/1.4, using the low sun as backlight for smooth skin, though any lens will do. Tips include moving around a location for variety, then a Camera Raw edit brushes clarity into the eyes and smooths skin.

Bach Photography walks through a golden hour portrait shoot lit only by the sun, using a Sony A7R II and Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art with no flash or reflectors. Model, camera and low backlight are positioned deliberately to avoid harsh shadows, then a Photoshop edit adjusts clarity, highlights and colour.

Mark Wallace shoots natural light portraits in Pretoria with no reflectors or flash, wide open at f/1.4, finding a pocket of directional light inside shade, rejecting a reflective backdrop that casts harsh shadows under the eyes, then using open shade beside sunlit concrete for catchlights and a complementary green background.

Pye Jirsa builds five portrait setups at home with a Sony A7C and Samyang 35mm, 45mm and 75mm f/1.8 lenses. The open door becomes a flat light source, the model moves to balance concrete bounce fill, a hand-painted backdrop adds Rembrandt-style directional light, and a phone torch lights one setup.

Gavin Hoey shows three ways to stop a model merging into a dark grey backdrop. After metering a single key light at f/5.6, he adds a second StreakLight as a hair light, repositions it to illuminate the background instead, then angles one light to catch both subject and backdrop.