When I’m talking to toddler group organisers I often say that they don’t need to worry about giving me a space which is well lit for the photos. This is very true, as my studio lights provide all the flash I need to nicely expose all the photos of the children I take at the toddler group. They can also have ambient light from the studio lights which I can use, so I don’t theoretically need lights on in the room at all, although it may feel a bit gloomy!
However recently at a lovely church based toddler group I was setting up my studio at the front of the church. The large windows meant the glorious autumn sunshine was streaming through, which was a welcome sight. Unfortunately it did confuse my studio lights. There are two ways for studio lights to work, one is to plug them into the camera with a long wire. The other option is for the studio lights to be triggered by the on camera flash. I always use the on camera flash when working with children, as it means I am able to jump around to get the best photos depending on what the child is doing. The sunshine was shining directly on one of my flashes, which meant that the flash on my camera was no brighter than the sunshine. Some quick shadow creation was required over the sensor on the flash, so that direct sunlight wasn’t ‘blinding’ it to my flash. As the sun moved round during the session I had to add another shade to a different light, but the sun coming through the windows didn’t cause a problem with the photos, and extra sunshine in autumn is always welcome.