A Lesson in Available Light
Or More Appropriately : How Sephora saved this Session
It’s very rare for me to post photos these days because of COVID but this one was really important for me as a photographer. As most lifestyle sessions go, the general rule is get the best natural light as much as possible. Whether it’s sunrise or sunset or even overcast days, the way light moves naturally achieves great results.
This is a small story how circumstances change. And as a photographer, you need to be able to problem solve and think on your feet. The more you do photography, the more sensible you become when sessions occur. You know how to map out timing, weather, and temperature especially when light affects all those elements.
So naturally I followed those steps for this one bridal session with my friend Grace. She booked her session accordingly looking to get photos to do a hair and makeup trial. In a bizarre series of events, I get a text the day of from Grace that the makeup artist mistakenly gets locked out of her building leaving Grace just an hour before our session was scheduled. After deliberation and consulting with her, we decide to move forward with the session. Grace ended up driving all the way to Southlake to the Sephora store hoping to find a makeup artist willing to take her in. Unfortunately, due to Covid, Sephora employees were not allowed to take those kinds of jobs at the moment. But the kindness of one sweet employee agreed to do it for her.
But the catch? Grace had to wait until 6pm because that’s when the employee’s shift at Sephora was done. Now If you’re a photographer waiting to do a SUNSET session, you know this is risky. Fall/Autumn light usually is shorter and sunset hour in Texas is anytime between 6-7pm. And with trusty weather apps these days, you can pretty much predict an accurate time frame when that will be. For us, 7pm on the dot was sunset.
Here’s where as a photographer things get tricky. Many times a photographer will offer many options and in the best interest of LIGHT (not necessarily the best interest of the client), the first immediate response is to just reschedule. But after everything that happened to my poor friend, I let her decide and made sure to warn her that we would only get maybe 10 minutes of somewhat decent light if we get lucky. She opted to press forward because she already had her hair done, her car was packed, and she was already dressed.
So for about two or so hours, Grace, another friend, and myself sat at a Barnes & Noble and caught up on life waiting patiently for the time to pass. The Sephora employee (to protect their identity will not be named) met us in the back of a parking lot in the shopping area and as the sun faded, (with consideration to social distancing) this employee did everything in their power to whip up some makeup having just met Grace hours before by way of doing so practically in the dark.
By 6:45pm, the light was going fast and even as we approached the closest most decent looking spot for photos, it was as if night flipped its switch and the moon came out. I didn’t bring any flashes to do artificial light and in the two hours I had to prepare, I could have really thought this through and maybe forced my friend to reschedule. Surprisingly, I wasn’t worried. I have no idea why.
Upon our initial session, I looked for the brightest lights I could find in the area. It was all fluorescent lights and at first I thought, “ok, this is what I’ve got I’ll have to go with it and edit later.” But lo and behold amongst the sea of yellow lighting, I saw the Sephora store nearby in cool white light shining through its large windows and it was the safe haven for any photographer desperate for help. I immediately put Grace next to the windows there and used what I could and even the “S” logo was like having a soft box. Luckily, the shots below are simple and artistic. For the purpose of actually what the session was booked for, I’d say it didn’t fulfill its role. Bridal sessions are intended to give the bride the most amount of information about how her makeup and hair looks in natural lighting during the day (ideally because brides do portraits before the ceremony). I kept saying to Grace that these will just be artsy and that we should do another session when she has her actual makeup vendor. I really felt pressured to deliver images that were spectacular especially after everything she had gone through. Grace was classy throughout the evening remaining calm and collected and looking to be positive the whole time. She was pleased with the photos in the end and for that, it’s a huge sigh of relief for me. Below you’ll find a few faves comparing them in color and showing you how it looks in Black & White. In post processing, I drew the shadows deeper to make it more rich and dramatic effect which I really loved. You can see the difference of color temperature in some of them which I think aided the whole story.
A big thanks to Linh Hong and Sephora! Congratulations Grace!
