Lesson Learned: Mind the Squintiness

Recently I took more save-the-date photos for my friends Burgess and Judy. This time we took it out of the living room and into the real world. The really bright real world! The high afternoon sun cast harsh shadows, and worse, it caused Burgess and Judy to squint. To avoid this problem in the future, here are some possible solutions: 1. Move them to a shadier spot. 2. Have them do something ridiculous, so that the squintiness doesn't matter. 3. Take a wide shot where they appear small in the photo. Since their faces are small relative to the overall size of the frame, their squintiness is not as noticeable. 4. Bring the shade to them. That's one reason I bought a collapsible translucent disk. I haven't tried it out yet, but I have high hopes that it will help minimize the squintiness. The downside is I need someone to hold it above my subjects, or set up a stand and make sure that it doesn't topple over. Another problem is that while the disk will shield my subjects from direct sunlight, it won't shield them from light bouncing off the ground and nearby walls. 5. Shoot around sunrise or around sunset. Sunrise? Forget about it, too early! Sunset? It's possible, but depends on everyone's schedule.