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I just love natural light,” remarks photographer David Stoecklein, whose modern yet timeless portfolio of the American West is proof he knows how to wrangle available light. Stoecklein is constantly on shoots in areas that don’t always have running electricity. No power usually means no studio lighting—but it isn’t only for practical reasons that Stoecklein has become a master at using available light to create stunning portraits.
“My type of photography is called run-and-gun,” explains Stoecklein. “I might go on a giant assignment for a big company and only take two bags of cameras. Most of the time, I only bring one or two little reflectors in case I need to use them. So after all these years of doing this, my eye and my brain are just kind of trained to look for unique light or unique lighting situations, and if I don’t have them, I have to be able to search them out, so that I can get the background the way I want it—or use backlighting or sidelighting or whatever I can find to use to make everything seem as natural as I can. And in a portrait, you want to be able to make the face come out and to have the character of the person come through. You do that by using the light.”
GREAT LIGHTThroughout the day, as the sun moves from east to west, natural light subtly shifts in intensity and in color temperature. Morning light is often bluer, for example, and aesthetically feels colder and moodier. The warm light of the setting sun, on the other hand, is more yellow, and saturates reds and oranges. A firm understanding of the different moods that color temperatures produce is an incredible advantage, especially for natural-light portraiture.
“With anything you do, you want to have that good light,” says Stoecklein, “and warm evening light has that warm kind of glow and feeling, which is really nice. It’s one of the lights that look the best. My only problem with warm light is that it gets too warm, and everything gets really gold and orange. It’s kind of tough—everybody wants to shoot that last piece of light, and it can be really good, but it can also be bad.
“On the other hand, another thing you have to remember,” continues Stoecklein, “is that with morning light, the good light runs away from you. You get up, and everyone is tired, and the light is just running away as fast as it can. And then in the evening, the light is coming to you and building to a climax. In the morning, the climax happens so fast, and then it quickly fades away, but in the evening, it’s only getting better and better and better. So the evening light has always been the best for me.”
The “magic hour”—the hour just after sunrise or just before sunset—is named so because of the amazing quality of the light during that time. Rays from the sun travel farther through the atmosphere, and the light is less harsh, so colors are more pronounced, shadows are softer, and highlights are less likely to be blown out. To capture these magical times, Stoecklein often finds himself living the life of his favorite subject, the cowboy—up before dawn and working through the last light of the evening.
HIGH NOONThe bright, direct sunlight at noon is known for being a bad time to take portraits. The light brings heavy contrast, and models spend a lot of the time squinting and, when it’s warm enough, sweating. So unless you’re purposely planning on dramatic shots with bold contrast, get in the shade.
“High-noon direct light is the worst time of the day for a portrait,” notes Stoecklein. “What I do in a situation like that is try to get the subject in some kind of shaded situation—under a big oak tree or whatever is available. In the shadows, you get blue light, which is really, really beautiful. And you don’t have any of the ambient light bouncing around the glass.”
Adds Stoecklein, “Sometimes I’ll park myself under a tree as well, or under a porch, or I’ll have someone who’s working with me hold a cowboy hat or a piece of cardboard in front of the lens to keep that ambient light from bouncing around in the lens—whatever it takes to totally shade the sunlight from hitting the lens—and then I’m able to shoot directly into the sun.”
By positioning himself to shoot directly into the sun, Stoecklein can use one of the strongest effects in photography, the silhouette. When subjects are placed in front of a light source and metering for exposure is based on the light behind the subject, then the subject will appear as a graphic shadow. By varying the degree of exposure and the strength of the light source, the subject and foreground also can be manipulated for more or less detail, as well as interesting highlighting effects.
“I have my own method for establishing exposure,” says Stoecklein. “I use the Basic Daylight Exposure system, also called the ‘Sunny 16 Rule’.”
 Stoecklein usually shoots everything at a shutter speed of 1⁄500 sec., which keeps subjects sharp, even when he’s moving or they’re moving. |
Stoecklein usually shoots everything at a shutter speed of 1⁄500 sec., which keeps subjects sharp, even when he’s moving or they’re moving. On a typical sunny day, he uses ƒ/6.3 and ƒ/7.1 to get a good exposure. So Stoecklein knows that when he wants something to be backlit, he adjusts his numbers to follow the recommendations of the Basic Daylight Exposure guide. With a constant shooting speed of 1⁄500 sec., he should drop one to two stops to ƒ/5.6 or ƒ/4 for a slightly overexposed image and a shadowy, but pronounced subject.
Stoecklein uses other natural lighting tricks to add dimension to his images, too, like using natural reflectors such as snow or sand to bounce light from below the subject. Inclement weather may be a pain for most people, but for outdoor photographers like Stoecklein, it can be ideal.
“I’m known for bad weather, so I love shooting in the rain, I love shooting on a really overcast, crummy day, a snowstorm, big clouds—I love that stuff. Our images communicate a story, so when-ever you can add weather to the story, it gives a better feeling and a dynamic to the communication. But, of course, the light is so cool, too.”
SUBJECTS“I’m really a director of photography,” says Stoecklein, “so when you direct the people, you can’t be embarrassed or afraid or shy about asking your subject to move a little bit, even if they’re working. Even cowboys—you may want to gently ask them, ‘Hey, would you mind moving a little this way? It will really help my picture.’ Most people will say, ‘Yeah, no problem.’ So I do move my subjects around to get better light. Asking people to move around, or moving your subject, whether it’s a horse or a person, into the proper light with the proper background is very important, and you shouldn’t be shy about doing it.”
Backgrounds can contribute to the character of the subjects as much as the subjects themselves. If there’s an available background that acts like a set or tells something about your subject that his or her face won’t be able to communicate, use it for everything it’s worth. Stoecklein, who generally shoots with a 400mm ƒ/2.8 lens, keeps his backgrounds simple to avoid detracting attention from the person he’s photographing.
“The background is almost as important as the foreground,” he says. “I use it as a color palette. I look for hot light, or yellow light, or red light, even green grass that I shoot out of focus, or a tree out of focus, or a horse trailer—anything that’s out of focus that will be my background. I’ll move my subject so that the background, the focus on the background, becomes like the backdrop of a studio.”
EQUIPMENT
While Stoecklein doesn’t use much equipment besides his cameras, little things can help to subtly alter an image. An off-camera flash, for instance, can provide good fill for reducing shadows in high-contrast scenes or removing the shade from obstacles like hat brims. They also can be used to add a catchlight, the highly sought-after reflection of a light source in a subject’s eye. Catchlights bring depth, dimension and sparkle to the eyes and can give a portrait life.
Reflectors, Stoecklein’s minimalist accessories of choice, are easily portable and indispensable tools for bouncing or diffusing available light. Basic models are available in gold, silver and white for warming, highlighting and reflecting light into localized areas of an image, especially useful for bringing extra attention to a subject’s face. White reflectors often are porous and also can function as a diffuser for adding shadow over the subject when the sun is too strong.Stoecklein chooses to rely on the automatic functions of his camera, a Canon EOS-1D Mark III, for white balance. White balance in cameras is calibrated in most cases for skin tone, so it’s usually a good reading, but scenes can always be misinterpreted. Consistent attention should be paid to white balance because white balance gradually shifts while the light changes, and different areas can have a different color temperature altogether.
Extreme differences in dynamic range also can play havoc with a camera’s automatic exposure readings, so handheld spot meters are another great solution for determining exact exposures. Models like the Sekonic L-558R DualMaster and Adorama Ambient 1º Digital Spot Meter provide a one-degree angle of view for localized and exact metering.
HAPPY TRAILS
“My whole moment of satisfaction and excitement is the moment I press the button and I see that great picture right in front of me,” concludes Stoecklein. “It’s always so wonderful, and I really like working outside, where I am right now—in this beautiful countryside, with windswept snow and amazing mountains, and above it all, the clouds that are moving past—and, of course, the people. It really makes your day wonderful when you have really great people who you’re working with, especially in the great environment of the American West. That’s what really turns me on. It’s constantly thrilling for me, and that’s why I like to work so much with natural light.”
To see more of David Stoecklein’s photography, visit www.drsphoto.net.
