Diving into natural light (the confessions of a "non-natural light” photographer)

There is a debate old as time itself between photographers, trying to determine whether flash photography or natural light photography is better. I must admit, for pretty much my entire photographic career (up until about a month ago) I was a die hard strobist.  

I even thought that people who said they were “natural light photographers” were lazy and just didn’t know how to shoot flash photography.  For those thoughts I want to apologize.  I am not trying to say that flash photography is better or that natural light is better.  The truth of the matter is that both styles are equally important and some people tend to gravitate to one style over the other.  I for example love flash photography because it requires a perfect blend of technical prowess and artistic creativity to achieve the perfect image.  The reason I didn’t lean toward natural light photography when I started was mostly because I didn’t have the patience to wait for the moment when the light was perfect and I didn’t know how to control that big light in the sky to make the photographs that I wanted to. So I relied on flash photography because I was comfortable with it and I knew exactly how to make those little suckers do exactly what I wanted them to.  

I really wish I had picked up natural light photography sooner because it is a blast to shoot! I love that I can focus more on getting a great performance out of my subject rather than focusing on whether or not my flash fired or why my radio triggers didn't send a signal.  And batteries! UGH… I am in no way trying to say that I am making a switch to all natural light photography (that would just be silly) but I am definitely going to integrate it into my everyday routine moving forward.  

You can create some really unique catchlights with natural light too!

This portrait in a parking garage produced some awesome catchlights!

This self portrait taken in my studio created some cool catchlights from the row of windows I used as my key light.

If you take one thing away from this post make it this…  If you want to be successful at anything, be a student of that profession in every capacity. Don’t hinder yourself by only focusing on one part of your job just because it is comfortable or convenient at the time.  I wish that I could go back 5 years and focus more on natural light photography because if I had I would be a far better photographer today.  

As always, if you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment below.  Also be sure to follow @ReadylightMedia on Instagram and Twitter and enter your email at the top of the page to receive updates, discounts and giveaways.  

Cheers,
Jeff