Last week I talked about the benefits of cloudy skies during a portrait session. Today, while the sun beams all around, seems like a great time to show off some images with (you guessed it) sunny skies!

My absolute favorite way to use sunshine in a portrait is for backlighting.  Backlighting, as these pictures show, gives a glowy quality to an image, sometimes creating an ethereal scene.  

Technically speaking, backlighting also serves the important function of separating a subject from the background.  With this family edged in light, their hair doesn't blend in with the background. Our eyes are not distracted by trying to sort out the background from the family.  This is a good thing, since it is, of course, a family portrait.

These backlighting examples have the same effect, though less dramatically than above.

Here's another thing I have learned about working with sunshine during a portrait session: when the sun lights up a scene, the image can easily end up with a color cast because of the setting.  When we're out in the woods on a summer day with lush vegetation all around us, we don't notice that our skin is greener than it would be if we were standing on an open mountain top.  We don't see it, but the camera does, and it's something I watch out for in deciding on a setting and especially when I am processing the image afterwards. Check out how the sunshine can affect the "color" of the images below:

Just as clouds can add to a more serious tone of an image if we choose to let it, sunshine naturally adds a happy, light, joyful air to portraits even if it's not directly shining on the subjects.  In the pictures below, everyone's smiles help add to that happy feeling, too!

Hooray for sunshine!  

Next time you need family portraits, give Jaclyn Paige Photography a call at (865) 363-4568 or contact me through my website.  Whether you're hoping for sunshine or clouds, you can't go wrong!