At the time I hated flash photography — I mean curled-up-fetal-position-in-a-corner hated — but it turned out to be one of the best things I learned to do when I became a second shooter at weddings.
Starting out with continuous light sources is best, because you can see how the light affects your subjects and scene before shooting. My choice is the Ice Light 2 — it’s lightweight, has a rechargeable battery, produces 5,200K light, and easily mounts to my tripod.
My first priority in capturing natural-looking lighting is to get plenty of ambient light in the frame. I love leaving a lamp on in the back ground, using a string of lights to create depth, or taking advantage of the glow of the sun as it dips below the horizon.
I use the Ice Light 2 mainly to fill in the shadows and bring light into the eyes of my subjects. This method works well in a shaded area, at the end of golden hour when a reflector is no longer effective, and indoors with flat or poor light.
It’s tempting to crank up the Ice Light 2 to the highest setting and go for dramatic deep shadows, but for the most natural look, I recommend starting on the lowest setting and slowly increasing the power until you have just enough light on your subject.
The trick isn’t to add a ton of contrast in the image, but to add a subtle, nicely placed shadow across the face to elicit a more natural look.
One of the big benefits of using artificial light is the ability to use a low ISO and eliminate a good amount of grain in the capture.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean you want to set your ISO to 100 and blast your subjects with as much light as possible to expose them correctly — not if you seek a natural-light look. Expose for the background, even if that requires a somewhat higher ISO, then bring in your light source for a touch of light on your subject.
If you’re feeling brave, try bringing in the artificial light to mimic some beautiful, warm window light from behind. I mean, who can resist a warm glow of backlight creeping into the frame? I place my subject in good natural light and place the Ice Light 2 with a tungsten gel a couple of feet behind the subject and just out side the frame.
The gel makes the light warmer, something like golden-hour sunlight. I compose my image so the light just barely creeps into the edge of the frame. If you don’t have good natural light to do this, you can of course use a second Ice Light 2 to light your subject’s face.
The simplicity of a one-light setup is always nice, but I’ve used as many as five Ice Lights for one shot. Think of your light source as a portable window you can place wherever you’d like — much cheaper than installing one!
Words & photos by April Nienhuis
This article first appeared in the September/October 2017 print issue of Click Magazine. Order print or digital single issues from the Click & Company Store. Or better yet, get a 1-year subscription so you never miss an issue!
