3 Quick Tips for Achieving Moody Portraits with Natural Light

If, like me, you are drawn to moody portraits and have been wondering how to take them, read on. Achieving moody portraits with natural light can be quite simple. I hope this takes the mystery our of dark moody portraits in natural light.

Before you start, plan your photo shoot first by keeping the following in mind: mood, tones (light or dark), outfits (colors to complement the tones), and the time of day to shoot. This may not make a difference to you, but to me, with my window north-east facing, I know I get decent light between 10am and 2pm, and after that, light availability deteriorates. This is the limitation of shooting with natural light. You are dependent on the amount and quality of the available light.

1. The importance of background

The easiest way to achieve a natural light moody portrait is by using a medium to dark background. The darkness of the background adds depth and the illusion of space and getting drawn into it. In effect, it also gives the illusion of a three-dimensional space. Not only that, but it also helps provide contrast between the background and the face of the subject which you want to emphasize and focus on. You draw the viewer’s eye to the image, and the background effectively provides context and setting.

There are various types of backgrounds: plain solid color, textured, scenery, and patterns such as wallpaper. Choose one that doesn’t clash with your subject (unless clashing is your intention) so that the portrait subject is the star of the show and the background is just that – background.

With a plain background, you can always add texture in post-production and change the tones up if you wish. Below is a side-by-side comparison of the photo without texture (left) and with a warm texture added (right).

2. The importance of lighting

Because we are limiting ourselves to available natural light, it is a good idea to work with it. In most spaces, especially in homes, natural light comes from a 45-degree angle streaming from a window unless you have skylights in which case light comes from the top. You would want to cover that skylight and limit yourself to one light source coming from one direction, preferably 45-degree angle from the side. You want to place your subject in such a spot where the light hits them at this angle. Beware of placing the subject too close to the window as this tends to illuminate the face too much.

You want just a small amount of light touching the subject to achieve that ambiance and mood you are after. Before you shoot, look at the shadows on the face and especially under the nose. Position your subject by moving them around adjusting to the light and how the shadows fall on the face.

From a 45-degree angle window lighting where the window is higher than the subject, shadows on the face get cast at a slightly downward angle to the side opposite the light source. This is felt to be a pleasing shadow and is also known as the Rembrandt lighting.

With Rembrandt lighting, you need a reflector positioned on the opposite side of the light. The aim is to reflect some of the window light back onto the subject’s face, so you get a softer gradation of shadows instead of a very sharp drop from light to dark. If you don’t have a reflector, you can use a white sheet or white piece of cardboard.

Reflectors come in different colors which cast a tint on the face so choose carefully.

3. The importance of light diffusion

Diffusion is passing the light source through a translucent material so that the light is spread out instead of coming from a concentrated source. Once spread, it touches the subject more softly thus removing the harshness of otherwise undiffused light.

One can argue that, on a cloudy day, available natural light coming from a window is already diffused by the great big clouds above. I agree with this. However, if you have the option to diffuse, I would still do it. On a sunny day where the light is powerful, I would say diffusion is an absolute must.

In the photo above, the window light is frosted at the bottom and covered in a voile fabric at the top thereby acting as a diffuser. From my experience of shooting for more than a decade, I have learned to see the difference between undiffused and diffused light and the former is definitely softer and better for the skin.

Overall, it’s a factor that contributes to achieving the type of moody portrait I am aiming for in this shoot.

I hope you found this helpful! Do share your moody portraits here and any tips you have too!

How using the zone system can improve your photography

Have you ever wondered how some photographers can produce photos that look so radically different than what we can see with our eyes?

Digital photography allows you to manipulate photos using a computer to make them look surreal. Some cameras include features that can make High Dynamic Range (HDR), multiple exposure and black and white photographs. These are not techniques I wish to address in this article. I like to keep it more natural.

Having a good understanding of certain techniques and the physics of light, you can produce unreal looking images in camera. You do not have to rely on modern camera technology or heavy use of post-processing.

A brief introduction to the Zone System

The Zone System has been around for decades. It was developed by Ansel Adamsand Fred Archer based around sensitometry. It’s a tool designed to be used to help photographers plan and control exposure and processing.

Naturally, as it came about in the 1930s, it was created for use with film. Although there are arguments against applying this technique to digital photography, I believe it to be very useful.

Adams and Archer divided tone into eleven zones and designated a Roman numeral to each. Zone 0 is black, zone X is white and V is middle gray. Each zone is separated by one photographic stop.

The Zone System

Photographer Alan Ross, who worked as Adam’s darkroom assistant, tells us on his website the system was created “to give the photographer the ability to effectively evaluate the qualities of a scene and follow through with confidence that the information necessary for the photographer’s visualization would end up on the film.”

Most of what I’ve read over the years about the zone system I consider overly technical. I try not to be. Often the photos published alongside articles expounding the virtues of the system in more recent years are dull. This usually happens when photography tools are used for the sake of it and at the expense of creative expression.

The Zone System – another tool in your kit

More guidelines than actual rules. This is how I prefer to regard the rules of photography.

Many will teach you to learn the rules and then break them. I teach people to learn the rules so well the can apply them intuitively.

The zone system is based on scientific fact, you can’t break it. Learning to apply the technique will give you more freedom to be creative with your camera. Consider it another tool in your kit.

Like any tool, you need to first learn the basics of what it does and how you can make it do what you want it to. I’m not going to get into teaching the ‘how to’ in this article, as there’s already so many books, blogs and videos on the topic already.

My main intention here is to encourage you to check it out and show you some of the benefits of learning the photographic zone system.

Why bother learning the Zone System?

Averaged metering on modern cameras is designed to render a mid-tone across the whole composition. Camera metering is calibrated on everything being middle gray. But everything we see is not middle gray.

Photographing a black dog on a black rug, or a white rabbit in the snow is challenging. Your exposure meter will want to render both scenes as middle gray because that’s what it’s been programmed to do.

Compositions containing a limited mid-tone range do not pose modern cameras any problems. Especially when photographing them in soft, low contrast light. It’s easy to make a good exposure in these circumstances. But they can quite often look dull unless we boost them in post-production.

Learning the zone system will enable you to make decisions on how to get your photos looking the way you want them to. Using this system well allows you to translate your creative desires into technical choices.