Environmental portraits are fun and easy to make, as long as you don’t have to lug a bunch of lighting equipment into the field. Today you’ll learn how to capture photos that will make you and your model proud, with natural backlighting that creates a unique effect.

Nathan Elson is a Canadian commercial photographer who often posts behind-the-scenes tutorials to demonstrate his favorite techniques. In today’s quick episode you’ll watch him capture natural light portraits of a pretty model, with light streaming through the trees behind her that adds impact to the shot.

This is a simple and effective method that anyone can accomplish with whatever gear they own. The only accessory you’ll need is a foldable/affordable reflector to bounce some light back onto the subject’s face to lighten it up and fill in any objectionable shadows. And we meant it when we said “easy” because this straightforward technique takes barely three minutes to explain.

Elson notes that with this method it’s important to quickly pose the model, determine focus, exposure, and composition because the position of the sun will move across the sky—changing how (and whether) the backlighting hits your model. As Elson says, at one moment everything may look perfect but  “10 minutes later the backlighting may disappear if the sun moves behind a tree.”

The reason for a reflector is this: if you expose for the model’s face without fill light, the interesting background will become significantly overexposed. As Elson says, “the whole purpose of shooting in a location like this is to is to show off the location as much as the subject.” In other words,  properly balanced tones will make or break the shot.

Elson demonstrates how to arrive at a proper exposure, combining ambient illumination of the background with fill light from the reflector. As you’ll see, it really helps to have an assistant hold and adjust the position of the reflector while you concentrate on directing the model and composing the image.

In fact, the position of the reflector is critically important for optimum results. So you’ll likely find yourself directing the assistant as much as the model as he moves the secondary light source for optimum results. Elson provides some helpful advice here, explaining why poor results may occur when the reflector is too close, too distant, or too far off to one side relative to the subject.

After a few more tips Elson demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach will several nice images (with informative captions) to get you inspired. You can find much more helpful advice by visiting his YouTube channel.

As be sure to check out the tutorial we posted from another accomplished pro, explaining how a camera’s light meter works so you can use it for perfectly exposed photos every time.

The high temperatures that have been plaguing our readers in the United States have finally arrived here in Central Europe. I can’t say I’m a fan. So, I have decided to follow the example of many animals and shift my activity to the evening and night hours. By that I don’t just mean drinking wine with friends, but also going out to see the animals. In fact, I even used the heat (well, the animals’ heat) to find them in the dark forest. Here is my first shot from the borrowed Zeiss DTI 4, which I am currently testing for you.

How does print size affect the emotional feel of a photo? It may seem like an image that works at one size will be equally good at any size – but in practice, I don’t find that to be true. Instead, the best print size changes from photo to photo. It’s all about what you want to say.

For most of us, the duck we know (and love?) is the widespread Mallard. You can see it across the world: Europe, Asia, North America, and it has even been introduced to Australia and New Zealand. But today I’m going to introduce you to a duck that is different in many ways. Meet the Goosander, also known as the Common Merganser.