The use of natural light

guest post by Rachna So

The same to other professional photographer, I have always wanted to own a studio with enough equipment such as lenses and light so that the client would be happy with their photos. Plus, I could also bring some of the equipment to make good outdoor photos in case the client preferred to take their pre-wedding shoot in a location at night time.

I am Rachna SO, 24, from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and I really wanted to become a professional photographer.

In my cases, the lighting of my photographs is basically based on the natural sunlight, especially from 7-10 am, and 3-5 pm local time (early morning and sunset periods if you would prefer). Some of the final products were adjusted and enhanced in photoshop or/and lightroom just to remove the noise and bright up the level of the color, for I am using the EF 18-135 f3.5 Lenses. However, I really happy with my photographs as an amateur photographer because I received good comments from other social network users such as those from facebook.During the sunset periods (golden hour), I love shooting photos along with the sunlight to get a nice golden look, and shooting photos against the sunlight to bring out the shadow of the object/building with the massive golden yellow color of the sun.

This beautiful girl is my cousin. I asked her to be my model, and we took some portrait shots nearby my house in Phnom Penh City, Cambodia. Without adding extra control from photoshop or lightroom, I am please and satisfied with this photo and its quality by using only the natural sunlight during the sunset periods. I posted her this photo to my photography page on facebook, and I received several good comments and lots of thumb up (likes).

This photo was taken at the tourist site located in the central of Phnom Penh City, Cambodia, and it is called the “Hero King Statue Park”. I went out to take some outdoor photo with some friend on that day, and suddenly noticed the amazing cloudy sky with lots of highlight from the sun. Therefore, I took this picture with my camera against the sun and pretty sure that I could bring out more of the those yellow highlight from the picture. The after edit version of photo is provided because I wanted to show how beautiful the sunlight during the golden hour is. Plus, I don’t have to spend a penny on those to get those amazing lights.

However, I knew that I cannot depend only on the natural sunlight to become a professional photographer due to the facts that I may not have enough light from the sun on the day with the overcast weather. Yet, with my limited amount of budget, I will be able to covered those expensive lighting set soon. For now, I will get the full use of the free natural sunlight as much as possible.

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