Natural Light or Studio Lights? Maybe Both!

The Gorgeousness of Natural Light

I consider myself a natural light photographer.  I love sunrises, sunsets, and the beautiful back lit images at these beautifully lit times of day.  Indoors, I look for soft, beautiful window light.  It is natural and I love how you manipulate it by moving around, adding reflectors, and changing positions.

Sometimes, however, there are dark, rainy, dreary, cloudy days that make using natural light in photos extremely challenging.  I debated a long time about whether or not to add studio lights to my setup.  In the end, I did, and I am so excited I made this decision!

“Natural” Studio Lights

I hesitated to buy studio lights because I feared the lighting would look fake – and this is not the look I am going for.  Thanks to the amazing education of Sue Bryce, I found some amazing, “natural” studio lights that will give me the look I want.

The bulbs on the kino flo lights mimic natural light and to make it even better, I added a huge scrim in front of the lights to diffuse it, making it more soft and natural looking, just like a big window.  These are different from strobes which are the lights that quickly flash when you take a picture; mine are on all the time so you don’t have to worry about the startling flash of light every time I take a picture.

They may not look sexy, but these bad girls provide a constant, beautifully diffused light that I can use anytime and it provides me with dependable conditions for my shoots.  Rainy days, dark days, cloudy days – it does not matter anymore.  Clients are going to love having this option as much as I do because now there is no more worry about rescheduling indoor sessions due to dark, dreary days.  Now, if only I could control the rain for outdoor sessions!  🙂