Easily Create Catchlights with Outdoor Light in 5 Steps

Have you ever seen a por­trait and noticed a “twin­kle” in the sub­jec­t’s eyes? That look that makes them seem full of life and mis­chief? That “twin­kle” or light in their eyes is known as catch­lights. Catch­lights are the lit­tle bit of light in your sub­jec­t’s eyes, and they make your por­traits come to life! As a por­trait pho­tog­ra­ph­er, this is your goal, and it’s not hard to cre­ate catch­lights with out­door light. Like I’ve said before… you have to shoot for the light and not the location.

Catch­lights are easy to achieve, espe­cial­ly in out­door light; you just have to know a few basic things…

How to Create Catchlights with Outdoor Light

1. Use open shade to cap­ture the best catch­lights. Make sure that your sub­ject is under the shad­ow of a build­ing, tree, even an open garage door. Have them walk to the edge of the shade and have them face the light. 

2. If it’s an over­cast day, you can cre­ate catch­lights in your sub­jec­t’s eyes by hav­ing them sit down, look up towards you, and to shoot down on your subject. 

3. Real­ize that if your sub­ject has dark eyes, catch­lights will be hard­er to achieve. Catch­lights are eas­i­est to cap­ture in peo­ple with lighter col­ored eyes.

4. Use a reflec­tor. Reflec­tors are great and can eas­i­ly be used to bounce light to cre­ate catch­lights. Remem­ber, you can use a white sheet, the con­crete, or even a pud­dle as a reflector. 

5. Prac­tice, prac­tice, prac­tice. Begin to get famil­iar with dif­fer­ent types of light and know where to place your sub­ject to cre­ate those catchlights. 

Cre­at­ing catch­lights with out­door light isn’t hard; it just takes a bit of patience and a bit of knowl­edge on how to make the light work for you. Cap­tur­ing that beau­ti­ful light in your sub­jec­t’s eye­’s just takes a bit of prac­tice. So grab your cam­era, head out­side, and try to cap­ture those mag­i­cal catch­lights in your sub­jec­t’s eyes!

Cheers

Dena

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Learn how to use man­u­al mode and take con­trol of your cam­era so that you can cre­ate the amaz­ing images that you’ve always imag­ined with the Begin­ners Pho­tog­ra­phy Essen­tials Pro­gram!