Two Things You Need to Know to Get Beautiful, Natural-Looking Light with Off-Camera Flash

So today I want to talk about just two things you need to know to create beautiful, natural-looking light with artificial light. I’m going to show you how to take what you already know about working with natural light and use it to get stunning results with off-camera flash. This is one of my favorite things to talk about, so here we go. Let’s dive in.

Hello and welcome to Unpopular Opinions with me, Sandra Coan. I’m an award-winning photographer and industry educator, bestselling author, and a proud Westcott Top Pro. I’ve been a professional photographer for over 25 years, and I have a lot of opinions about photography and the photography industry. On this podcast, I’m sharing them all. So if you’re ready for some real, honest conversation about the art and business of photography, this is the place for you.

A little backstory

I know you’ve probably heard this if you follow the podcast, but I’ve been doing photography for a really long time. I started back in 1999. Fun fact, though: I didn’t start using artificial light until 2011. So I worked exclusively with natural light for the first 12 years of my career — and honestly, that was the thing I was super proud of.

Natural light is beautiful, and knowing how to see it and create with it is part of the magic of what we do as photographers. Not everybody can do that. But the problem with natural light is that it’s not always super reliable. Sometimes it rains. I live and work in Seattle — I know this very well. Some days are dark, and some conditions are just less than perfect. And when you’re faced with that, especially during busy season, what do you do? You’re stuck.

So the question I always ask when I speak about this on stage is: if this is true, and we all know it’s true, then why are so many of us wed to the idea of being exclusive natural light photographers? Why do we do that to ourselves?

I think it happens for two reasons.

The first reason is that a lot of us just don’t like the look of artificial light. This was me. I thought artificial light was kind of ugly — and it can be. We’ve all seen bad flash photography before: blown highlights, hot spots, that harsh, flashy look, or shots that just don’t match the rest of your natural light images. Maybe you love soft, dreamy natural light photos, and then every time you work with flash, the results feel harsh and overlit.

But since becoming someone who’s genuinely good at creating soft, beautiful light with artificial light, I’ve learned that artificial light can be just as soft and beautiful as window light. And unlike natural light, artificial light is always available. It’s always consistent, always exactly the way you want it. That opens so many doors and creates so much freedom.

The second reason natural light photographers get stuck when it comes to learning off-camera flash is the belief that lighting is hard, complicated, or super technical. This was a big one for me — honestly the biggest block that kept me working with natural light for the first 12 years of my career, even though I struggled in low-light situations during the fall and winter here in Seattle.

I’m a self-taught photographer, and artificial light just didn’t seem intuitive to me. I could see the way light came in from a window and fell across my subject, but I couldn’t wrap my head around how to do that with a flash — getting a pop of light in a fraction of a second. It freaked me out. And it didn’t help that every time I looked up lighting tutorials on YouTube, they all seemed really complicated: huge studio setups, multiple lights, models holding their own reflectors. That’s not how I work. At the time, I was still working in clients’ homes, photographing toddlers. I figured this must not be for me. It was honestly overwhelming.

But the truth is, we all already know most of what we need to know to get beautiful results with off-camera flash — because light is light. If you can work with the sun shining through a window, you can absolutely work with a bulb shining through a softbox. Same rules apply, my friends.

The two things you need to know

For years I’ve told people I teach photographers how to create natural-looking light with strobes and flash — it’s basically the name of my first book. But what does that even mean? Natural-looking light can mean a lot of different things to different people.

To get your version of those results, you basically just need to know two things. I’ve been teaching lighting for well over a decade, and whenever I start, people usually have three basic questions:

• What equipment do I need to buy?
• How do I know where to place my lights so I get that natural-looking look?
• How do I know what my settings need to be so my flash photography matches my natural light work?

All three of those questions can be answered by knowing just two simple things you probably already know: your preferred light quality, and your preferred light intensity.

Light quality: hard vs. soft

Light quality means hard light versus soft light. Hard light is what we’re used to seeing on bright, sunny days — very contrasty, with harsh, sharp shadows. Soft light is what we’re used to seeing on overcast days, or when your subject is in open shade. It can still have beautiful contrast, but the transitions from highlight to shadow are more gradual, less defined — giving you that beautiful, glowy look.

The real question is: which one do you prefer? Both are beautiful, and both can technically be a natural light look. I’m going to challenge you to write that down right now (unless you’re driving, of course) — put it in your notes app. What is your preferred light quality? That’s question one.

Light intensity: your preferred aperture

Light intensity has to do with the brightness of your light, and it’s important because it directly impacts your settings — particularly your aperture.

Are you someone who loves a shallow depth of field, working at apertures like f/2 or f/2.8? Then you prefer lower light intensity. Or do you prefer a deeper depth of field, with everyone and everything sharp, working at f/5.6, f/8, f/11, or f/16? Then you prefer higher light intensity.

Take a minute to write down your preference here too. Knowing your preferred light quality helps you determine what equipment to buy — what modifiers you need, whether to add diffusion, and where to place your light. Knowing your preferred light intensity helps you know where to place your light, what power settings to use, and how to figure out your ideal camera settings.

Breaking down light quality

Light quality — hard versus soft — is controlled by three things: the size of your light, the level of diffusion on your light, and the proximity of your light to your subject.

You probably already know this from natural light. A big window produces soft light. A small window produces hard light. Same rules apply with artificial light: bigger modifiers (umbrellas, softboxes) produce softer light. If you like soft light, go big. If you like hard light, go small.

I personally love working with umbrellas because they’re easy, and I love soft light — so I’m always working with huge umbrellas. If you catch my behind-the-scenes on Instagram, you’ll see it. When I want harder light (which happens sometimes), I’ll switch to a small modifier.

Diffusion works the same way. With natural light, clouds, curtains, and blinds act as diffusion — they soften the light. Pull the curtains for softer light through a window; open the blinds for harder light. Same with artificial light: most modifiers let you add or remove diffusion, whether built in or as an add-on panel. Want soft light? Add diffusion. Want hard light? Remove it.

Proximity matters too. The closer you are to your light source, the softer your light is. The farther away, the harder it is.

Put it together and you’ve got a recipe:

• Soft light: relatively large modifier, with diffusion, placed close to your subject.
• Hard light: relatively small modifier, without diffusion, placed farther from your subject.

Breaking down light intensity

Now let’s talk about intensity — how bright your light is, which impacts your settings. Start by asking: what’s your preferred aperture? If you like shooting wide open for a shallow depth of field, you need less light intensity. If you prefer a deeper depth of field at f/8 or higher, you need more light.

With natural light, intensity is harder to control. But with strobes and flash, you have total control — you can just turn the power up or down.

To figure out your settings:

1. Set your ISO. I personally shoot at ISO 100 with my digital camera because I don’t like digital noise.
2. Choose your shutter speed. The only rule here is that you can’t go above your camera’s sync speed (check your manual — for most digital cameras it’s around 1/200). I personally keep mine around 1/125.
3. Choose your desired aperture, based on the depth of field style you prefer.
4. Adjust the power on your light accordingly. Take a test shot — too bright, turn the power down; not bright enough, turn it up. It really is that easy.

Proximity affects intensity too, not just quality — the closer your light is to your subject, the brighter it’ll be. So if you want soft light and bring it in close, you’ll likely need to turn the power down to control that brightness.

Putting it all together:

• Soft light + shallow depth of field: large modifier with diffusion, placed close to your subject (which will be brighter) — so turn the power down until you hit your desired aperture.
• Hard light + deep depth of field: small modifier without diffusion, placed farther from your subject (which will be dimmer) — so turn the power up.
• Soft light + deep depth of field: large modifier with diffusion, placed close to your subject, but turn the power up until it looks right at your desired aperture.

My personal recipe

I love soft light and shallow depth of field. So my personal recipe for natural-looking light with strobes and flash is: a large modifier with a diffusion panel, brought in close to my subject — normally about 3 feet away — with the power on my light turned down low, so I can shoot at that wide-open aperture I love.

My challenge to you: spend a couple of days, or even just a couple of hours, playing around to find your own preferences and build your personal recipe.

If you need help, I’ve linked my classes — The Missing Link and Lighting on Location — in the show notes. The Missing Link is ideal if you work in a studio space. Lighting on Location is perfect if you primarily work in your clients’ homes. Both are currently on sale, so now’s a great time to grab them and practice before busy season starts.

It’s always a little tricky to teach lighting on a podcast since it’s such a visual art — but I hope this made sense and was helpful. As always, if you have questions, let me know, and I’ll see you next week.

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