The single most important rule, 99 times out of 100, is to not have people face the sun. Sunlight is harsh. Sunlight is bright and it makes people squint. Sunlight magnifies every flaw and imperfection in human skin. It exaggerates every line, crease, pore, and wrinkle. If you are photographing the weather-worn face of a Maine lobster fisherman, fine, shoot in the sunlight. The harsh will help that kind of photo. But for everyone else, most of the time you should keep them out of the sunlight.
The photo of Ava at the top of this article was created in soft light. It makes the most of her lovely face.
This portrait of Ava is a failure as a portrait. You can’t even see her eyes. When I asked Ava to stand in the sunlight, she said, “Is this photo going to be a bad example for one of your photo workshops?” “Yes”, I said. She knew immediately from numerous photo shoots that this was bad light.
Her sisters know good portrait light too. One Saturday when her sister Erin was in a mood to do a photo shoot, she looked outside and said to her mother, “This is perfect portrait light. Is Jim in town this weekend?” I was out of town doing a workshop.
Do the people you photograph a favor, keep their faces out of the sunlight.
Are there exceptions to this rule? Yes. But if you new to portrait photography you should master the basic, easy to learn stuff first.
Links
Portraits 2 – Sunlight Can Be Really Bad Portrait Light (this article)
Portraits 3 – Shoot On Cloudy Bright Days
Portraits 4 – On Sunny Days Use Open Shade