“Photograph: a picture painted by the sun without instruction in art.”
What are strong sides of using natural light only? What are its pitfalls? Is there any significant advantage to use strobe lights on set?
We asked 4 PRO photographers in Los Angeles how they implement natural/strobe light into their photos!
The full interview is available of YOUTUBE. For your convenience, here is the transcript of it as well.
@moisnomois : I like working natural light the most, since it’s more challenging, I guess. But studio lights could be pretty hard as well, depending on what’s your setup is. So it’s kind of both.
@ayala.cr2 : I’m into strobe. But lately I’ve been putting it away also, ’cause it’s a lot to work with. I feel like you sweat a lot more when you’re running around, especially if it’s just a one man, person, with a model. I usually don’t work with assistants right now.
Right now I’m getting into leaving the strobes on the side. I’m getting back into natural photography, just looking for the light. I’ve met a photographer recently who took me to a wedding, and he was talking to me about finding the light. I fell in love with that. He’s like, you don’t really need flash. And if you do, you want to add a strobe or something, you can use that as a fill. And I was like, okay, I never really looked at it that way. I’ve been getting more into that.
@c_curiel87 : Strobe light? You’re essentially trying to control the light, and trying to get it to do what you envision. Compared to the sun, there’s no blocking the sun, or natural light I guess you’d say. It’s one direction, you could balance it, but that’s as far as you’re gonna go. You can block it, the same way you do as in strobes and all that. But I guess you could say, your F stop and your ISO’s gonna be constant. Compared to a strobe, you could change it and change the dynamic of it, completely different from a harsh light to dark shadows. And natural light, you still have that gradient where it falls from really bright to really dark. And it’s beautiful. You can do that in the studio too, but I guess you could say that there’s something very special about both. Sometimes they go hand in hand together, and sometimes they don’t. But you could tell the difference between a studio portrait and a regular ambient light portrait, or daylight. But both bring their assets to it.
@cerlov : Natural light for sure. I would say 95% of what I shoot is all natural light. I do mess around with strobes, a lot more so recently than I have before, ’cause I have a lot more access to studios now and it’s really fun to try those things out. But still.
Check out our WORKSHOPS in Los Angeles that teach you hands-on how to make great photos!
One of our closest workshops – Studio Lighting 101 : Introduction to Studio Lighting and 3-Light Set Up
will take place on January 9th, 7-9pm, in one of our Los Angeles studios !!!