Outdoor Portrait Lighting Jedi Style

Making girls soon on the mean Streets of America was Anakin Skywalker, of Star Wars Weekends at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The brooding soon-to-turn bad guy, stood out in the hot sun (ours not his), greeting fans, posing for photos, and signing autographs. Let’s find out if he used Jedi mind tricks on me.

My Canon PowerShot SX30 IS was set to Portrait. The sun was up (as opposed to down, in the middle of the day) and off to my right.

Oy! Or whatever might say Yoda. The lighting is bad. I’m going to pop up the flash to even out the lighting.

Shazbot! Using a mode like Portrait that makes all photo-taking decisions won’t fire the flash in daylight. However, this looks much better than before because he moved over.

That’s it! I’m going to Program.

Yeah, baby. That’s much better.

Let’s try a little fill-flash. It didn’t make a big impact but it did lighten his skin tone a little.

When taking people pictures under natural lighting conditions, be very careful to avoid uneven lighting. Dark shadows and blown highlights both lose details. Shadows around the eyes make folks look like raccoons, hence the term raccoon eyes.

On my next Disney trip I aim to show you advanced lighting techniques. Sit tight, it’s not until 2013.

C’mon over and visit my Facebook page.