How can a good portrait be taken without a mirror?

Sometimes when I travel, I go to the place, breathe the fresh air, enjoy the beautiful scenery around me, and I am having a party with my friends. The sun shines directly from above, and I suddenly think of the problem that there is no mirror when shooting. This is completely normal. Here are some tips to help you take beautiful photos without a mirror!

What is a reflector?

Reflector is a simple tool to change the direction of existing light. A reflector is not a light source, it just lets you manipulate the existing light.

Photographers use reflectors to fill shadows, which is why you often see them in outdoor scenes where you can't control the light. In the case of direct sunlight, mirrors can be used to strengthen the control of the situation. However, there are some methods that can be used without this situation.

Looking for uniform lighting

In fact, part of the challenge of outdoor photography comes from lighting. Customers often see blue sky and bright sunshine, but our photographers silently complain about overexposure, underexposure of shadows and poor contrast.

What is the best solution? Look for some even lighting!

Invite the subject to shoot under a tree, in the shadow of a building, or simply shoot a place where the sun hides behind a mountain and can produce uniform light. If a small number of shadows are used, the background may be overexposed. Then try to change your point of view to make full use of this situation.

Tan O 400- shutter speed1100-aperture f/2.8

Adjust the lighting conditions with tools.

No matter whether you are in the wild or in the desert, you have no chance to get uniform lighting. Is the sunlight on the subject's face too dazzling? It's time to be creative!

You can use the things in the car to create your own unified light, and put it on the subject with an umbrella to block the sun.

ф o1250-shutter speed15000 aperture f/2.80 is stable.

Lighting: umbrella

Using contrast technology

Some techniques may not be applicable to actual scene shooting? Let's be creative in everything.

Photography is an art form, and the creators are creative, creative and inspired. Apart from competitive comparison, why not take it as an advantage? Use contrasting shadows and highlights to create vivid photos.

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Shoot at the right time of day.

If you can choose, shooting at the right time of day can alleviate the lighting problem. Prime time is famous for its best photography time, and the trend of taking pictures when the sun is low and uniform light is produced eliminates the need for mirrors.

И o1600-shutter speed1640-aperture f/2.8

Fill the shadows with natural reflectors.

Various surfaces can act as reflectors, such as water or windows of buildings. Proper placement of the model can produce the same effect as using a reflector.

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Fill shadows in post-processing

Use the post-processing program to make the field of vision clear and shoot in the original format (the image file contains the least processing data from the camera sensor-it is called the original file because it has not been processed), so that you can have more control over the image when processing it. RAW files have more tones and higher image quality than JPEG files, and have more control over the editing of highlights, white balance, tones and saturation. , and all the changes made are not corrupted. You can use any post-processing program to highlight shadows and highlights.

Original image before and after processing

That's it. Now it seems that the problem can be solved without a mirror.