I'm really trying to post more often, but until that actually happens...

I had two shoots on May 9th over in Santa Cruz and they were both productive. My first shoot was around 11am and I wanted to quickly show two of my favorite solutions to midday light.

Setup #1: Photographed under this bridge:

When you shoot under a bridge or any large object that casts a shadow it gets your subject out of the sun and removes the problem of overexposed highlights. The key light comes from the brightness of everything outside of the shade.

If you can manage to find a somewhat dark/shady background you can avoid having an overexposed background.

One thing to watch out for is too much key light coming up from the ground, so a bounce board can be used for negative fill ( flagging light reflecting up from the ground ).

If there isn't enough key light the photographer can step into the sun and use a bounce board to reflect sunlight. I've also used a boardwalk or pier in the past with this same basic setup.

#2 Direct Sunlight - see image right
Face your model away from the sun to keep highlights off their face. Fill with a bounce board and keep yourself in the shade at the same time :)
This is clearly not an ideal setup, but my point here is that it can be done. Some models can handle almost enough bounce-fill without squinting that the backgrounds aren't too overexposed. A little photoshop makes up for the rest and I like the look of the result. I like people looking bright and flush with color.

Daylight is free and I'm not afraid of a few highlights.

Second shoot was nearby with more great scenery. Tall grass is my favorite. I certainly risked being bitten by ticks and getting poison oak all over my feet ( that pair of Rainbows is now retired ), but the weather was great and it was worth it.

Finally, I shot a wedding this past Sunday the 12th for my friends John and Kerry.

The Crystal Springs Golf Course turned out to be a great venue with this incredible vista for the ceremony.

I'll find some more favorites soon but for now that's all. There's nothing like nice weather.