How do I take professional looking portraits in sunlight? Mine always look like snapshots, despite the pose.?

I understand how to use the manual settings on my camera, I've been doing photography for 7 years, but with only a few exceptions, whenever I shoot outside they loose the professional looking quality. I usually shoot late in the afternoon for the good lighting, but I'd also like to shoot when the sun is slightly brighter.

Without a sample to judge here are some thoughts.

avoid the slightly bighter settings and look for sligth shaed or cloudy conditions.s this gives a more even light without harsh shadows on facial features or subjects squinting.

This also opens up avenues for gentle fill in flash to highlight faces.

Lower light levels allows larger apertures for shallower depth of field to make the subject stand out from a slightly blurry background.

Shoot close ups of people outdoors on cloudy days, use fill-in flash and you will make great people pictures. Good Luck!

You need to use reflectors and fill flash to reduce the shadows. If you don't want to spend a lot of money just buy some white poster board. Have someone hold the poster board and reflect the light on the subject. Late afternoon sun is great for landscape shots but portraits look better with high sun and a reflector.

The afternoon sun is good, but don't forget about morning sun as well. I was just reading some notes from a really good pro who swears by early morning light. Also remember that it has to do with where you put the light and shadows. Using reflectors as fill is a really good idea, gold reflectors will give a nice warm fill, but you'll either need a stand or assistant to hold them.

Definitely early morning or late afternoon are the best times.

Find an assistant and use reflectors (silver/gold/ or a combo of both colors) and a fill flash (if necessary). Just a slight bit of shadow is fine because it makes the face more 3 dimensional instead of flat IMHO.

HTH

Use flash for the eyes. A reflector or two is good. Watch your backgrounds and angles.

If you take a look through pro magazines like National Geographic, almost no people shots are taken in bright sunlight.

The shadows are simply too harsh and the contrast range too wide.

The best time to shoot outdoors is on a "cloudy bright" day because there are almost no shadows. It's almost like shooting with a gigantic soft box over the sun.

Late afternoon provides the "golden hours", but it still leaves shadows and turns skin yellow.

If you need to shoot in full sun, you can try using fill flash or a reflector to even out lighting.

But in the end, if you want the pro look you'll have to wait for the clouds to roll in.

HTH.

You need to "Tame the light". Most glamour shots have a light tamer above the subject, basically adds a shadow over the subject. Then an assistant will use a reflector to add light from a good angle and usually will add fill flash as well.

At least thats how I understand how it works. I live in the Seattle area so I dont get much chance to try this. LOL