Shoot Epic Portraits in Harsh Light (Wedding Photography Behind the Scenes)

This is a prime example of why some situations truly can’t be shot in natural light while obtaining professional results.

Clients might be happy, but delivering photos where the highlights are completely blown out in both the foreground and background is less than ideal.

I’d argue this is a case where you’d be best exposing for highlights and pulling any shadows up in post, but really you’d be better off taking over the sun with a moonlight or two.

I’m taking photos of a family reunion for a friend this summer and this was super helpful. Thank you for the great work!

I have a very important photoshoot today and it will be in harsh light. I have never done it before, I would have always chosen soft light time. It starts in an hour and I had been searching for a video like this for days! All the other video talk shade or diffusers that I won’t have. Thank you so much, this was so so so helpful!

Nice tips! Very helpful but still… harsh lighting is sooo difficult 😮‍💨 so many things to be aware of. Thanks!

Would an ND Filter help?

Just seeing this one, but I'm curious. A couple of times in your videos you have mentioned budget weddings, but also you don't offer smaller packages. Are these couples on a budget still allotting $10,000 for wedding photos? You are worth every penny, btw❤️

Epic video Katelyn. Thanks for the epic tips about taking epic portraits in epic locations. You're epic! lol. Seriously though, great video as always.

Learned so much from this super helpful video - my one question is, can you share where in Colorado is that beautiful wedding location??

Hi Katelyn I had a situation on a Clift with a ocean background . It was a beautiful day but no clouds at about 230 pm winter, very harsh light. I did the couple shading but still struggled to have shade. Do I exposure fir them or the bright sky? I was trying a flash but really probably made it worse, also do you think a reflector would help which I left in car😟

Great video!I was wondering if you ever use ND filters?And if not, then why not? Thanx!!

You’re an amazing communicator ! Love your videos!

Do you ever use auto iso in manual mode? I always use manual to control my shutter and aperture but I feel like I always forget my iso unless it's in auto lol

Good info and I really appreciate your live-action tutorials. FYI, I'm a newbie so I can't speak to the photography content but even though I liked the video and subscribed I had to fight to watch this one to the end because of the constant use of "epic". We get that it's epic, we can see that, but other colorful adjectives would make this much easier to listen too and less like a candidate for a drinking game.

genius idea when shooting in harsh light, i think the main point is to avoid uneven shadow on the face

This channel is worth subscribing. It feels like, finding a gem among the pile of rocks☺️

Katelyn, how much overdosing are u talking about? One stop? One third of a stop? Thanks!

Hi I need help with this scenario. What if the client needs/wants/demands a wide portrait in front of a specific background, say a building/structure at the moment where the sunlight is harsh at 1pm? what to do?

Katelyn, I would love to see a video that touches on weddings with no natural light options. I had a wedding in April where it was monsoon raining out and the venue had no windows. I had to cover the entire day inside with little to no light. (Mostly florescent/bulbs.) The entire day just felt tragic, not just for me, but so much went wrong with other vendors too. Maybe just divulging on worst-case scenarios and how to be prepared. Maybe even a little something on how on earth to edit these low light images that just aren't a dream.

Thanks so much for all you do! I have learned sooo much from you and the quality of my work has made leaps and bounds simply from consuming and applying your free content. You're amazing and I would love to impact others as you do one day!

Great video, but easiest way to handle harsh light is to use xplorer 600 or similar godox flash and it will make pictures very beautiful with vivid colors.
So try that and you will see a huge difference.

Thank you for making these videos and investing YOUR time to help US learn. That is incredibly selfless of you and I have such respect for that. Thank you Katelyn!!

Do you ever use a flash for fill light?

Great stuff... Ty for the info...Wonderful imagery....😎

First of all, thank you so much, this was a great video. Not many people say about how to shoot in harsh light. Just wanted to ask, is it a good idea to use reflectors or parabolic light modifiers to somehow equate the intensity of light on the background as well as the one lighting the subject, also may be when you said to get the subject into the harsh light to match the overly lit background, and use a reflector towards the bottom to soften the harsh shadows?

I love your videos. Thanks for the insight! I would love to see your raw photo vs your edited photos that you add into your videos.

So where exactly is this Epic location?

This is great! Bless you

Do you use any exposure bracketing or anything to help recover some highlight details?

Question: in these epic locations, to focus on the couple, do you Spot Metering ? Or what metering? Thanks.

Would love too have seen the before and afters to see what we should be shooting for in camera using these techniques. I would imagine it would be exposing for the background leaving the subjects slightly underexposed in the shadows and bringing the shadows up in post? Thanks. This is my recurring nightmare!