At what time of day is there the best natural light?

Question

I'd like to take some portraits outside.

Answer 1

During that ever magical, wonderfully mystical SWEETLIGHT of course.
Us old timers who learned how to make exposures using the oh so lovely "Pelicula" were taught a bit differently then the "digital only" shooters of the day. Shooting film, especially slide film and really, really, especially Kodachrome left good shooters with extraordinary capabilities that I witness very little among a large number of our up and coming shooters. C-41 or negative film gave you a bit of latitude and was somewhat forgiving when piss poor exposures were made. Slide film, especially Kodachrome, left very, very little room for error as the latitude was minimal between your D-Max (true black) and a true white. Shooters from those days, good ones especially could give you an F-stop and shutter quick like without the aid of a meter and those of us who were lucky enough to have demanding instructors such as one of my favorites, one of the first Look Magazine shooters by the name of Bob Lerner. They took not crap, back talk or excuses. If he asked you what your exposure was you better have it and it better be damn close to the meter he was checking you against. There were meters in the cameras of course, those little bouncy needles and if we were found using them instead of a real hand-held meter we were chastised. We did not have time to meter constantly, we had to watch the changing light, make our adjustments and shoot. We were too busy actually focusing our cameras and not using the internal meters and thank God there was yet such a thing as a LCD screen on the back of my F3 or FE2. If we had caught "chimping" as we call it now or speed scrolling through our images just to see if we had an exposure we would have hung our heads in shame and left. Don't get me wrong folks, there are some fine shooters out there, you know who you are and those who know you are not, sorry but there's not much room in the cream and drowning in the milk sucks. All you good shooters, the ones with an eye, the ones who can actually see light, see "SWEETLIGHT", who know that decisive moment and know you have an exposure without even looking at that screen, keep at it and you will do well. Please take my advice though and I swear you will go farther. After laughing about the upcoming "digital age" for years I finally had to let go of those old Nikons that I loved so much and move into the digital world and trust me, it's such a treat knowing the rules and being able to break them later, so please take my humble advice.
#1 - Turn that LCD screen on the back of your camera to the brightest setting it has. Never depend on that to judge your exposure, it's always a good tool to check and make sure your images are tack sharp if you suspect otherwise. Learn to make exposures right off the top of your head, always carry a nice light meter to double check yourself when need be.

#2 - Always share secrets and ideas with your good peers. The cocky ones will always keep a distance and they will sink to the bottom soon anyways. One day a favor you did for another pro will be returned 10-fold and save your ***.

#3 - Photoshop is wonderful, I am an instructor myself but take the time to look at the tools and realize that they all mean something related to the days of the enlarger and you will find the program making a lot more sense.

#4 - If you never have, please do yourself the favor of getting an old YashicaMat or better yet a 4x5 or 8x10. Nothing in photography is quite so beautiful as draping that dark cloth over your head and seeing that lovely light on that frosted viewfinder. It's magical, it's upside down, (for a reason) and I guarantee you will be hooked.

I hope I did not come across as cocky but I want those of you who truly have the passion to know all you can, all that was and all that you can be. Never stop learning or sharing. There is always someone better then you, me or anyone else. Take time to leave the camera in the car, take a walk and find the SWEETLIGHT. Once you find it and know it you have truly been blessed and it will be with you always.

c

Answer 2

You have received some very good answers.

If you'd like an example of a photographer who does it a little differently, go to shutterbug.com and do a Search for Steve Bedell and read his article "Natural Light Portraiture". It was in the Oct. 2006 issue of Shutterbug Magazine.

Answer 3

Early morning or late afternoon.
That said, any time provided you do NOT use direct sunlight. Get into some solid shade and find that shade where the light is diffused/reflected daylight and, preferably unidirectional.
Be careful about finding a background which is non-distracting. You can place your subject well in front of such a background and, using a longer focal length, get said background out-of-focus.
Here is an example of diffused daylight (in my car-port) and the subject is lit from one side. The background is NOT out-of-focus and that's my fault.
http://www.eyefetch.com/image.aspx?ID=579545
Here's another. Same location, different day and time.
http://www.eyefetch.com/image.aspx?ID=578237
See the slight difference in the quality of natural diffused daylight AND the fact that it is from the side and ONE side only.

Answer 4

When the light is warmest is temperature and I don't mean ambient temperature. Yes, early morning or late afternoon. This is for most colourful skin tones. That is if you want colourful skin tones. For blue or green tones, as in trees and grass, at noon. For flowers and other colourful items, morning and afternoon again, or on a cloudy day.

Spot focus on the most important item in your pic.

Answer 5

The "golden time of day" is just after sunrise and just before sunset. You also get some interesting light before and after these times.

Answer 6

going to grow some pot?