These photos were taken at golden hour on a cloudy day, so we had to make some of our own sunlight. There are several ways you can do this and how you do it will depend on your gear. Obviously first and foremost you need some sort of light and the light you have will decide everything. Speedlights have considerably less power as opposed to strobes but that just means you need to get them closer. Strobes offer a little more leeway but keep in mind you need to consider where that spread of light is coming from to make it convincing.
In the case of these photos, I used my strobe with an orange gel just off to the side and angled aiming slightly down to the subject. If you were using a speed light, you’d likely want to do this as well but due to the size and strength of the light. In this case, I did it that way because I didn’t really have any brush or trees to hide it behind to make it look like the sun was just over the horizon, so I made the light just off to the side. You’ll also notice the slight glow and lens flare on some of the photos – that’s what having a strobe just off to the side can do.
This technique sound easy on paper but it really requires practice because you are trying to recreate something that people see almost every single day. If it isn’t right, they will notice but if you can figure it out this trick just might save a photo session that needs that sunlight on a cloudy day.
Also, don’t forget the orange gels. Get a pack that has various hues of orange and don’t be afraid to stack them if need be.