Redlands Oranges
The sun was beginning to fall, and the color sweeping across the sky was already taking on that orange glow that we see in so many posters of California Agriculture. As you can see, the sun was coming from behind her. I had a few choices to get a good exposure. A flash, expose for Alison’s skin (but blowing out the background in the process, or what I finally chose to use, a reflector.
While the flash would have worked well, without something to balance the color more in the warm direction, Alison would have been well exposed, but her skin tones would not have matched the tones coming from the sun’s natural light (she would have seemed whitish-blue by comparison). As noted, exposing to make sure Alison was correctly exposed would have meant everything behind her would have been far too bright and would have lacked all detail. Luckily, I had a 5 in 1 reflector with me. This turned out be be a really good option, as it assured that I would get both the background and Alison fairly well exposed, and I would also get the gold tone that sunsets should cast.
These 5 in 1 reflectors are not very expensive. They fold up fairly small, but unless you take pictures as often as I do, might prove inconvenient to carry along on most trips. But when you have a special shoot in mind, it is well worth the small cost to have one in the closet.
BTW, for anyone who was curious, this is my little sleepwalker from last night’s post. Love this kid!
thisphotodaddy 
I love everything about this photo, from the exposure, to the composition to the model herself.
Thanks. I love my girls so much, that it feels like a railroad spike has been struck through my heart when I am away from them.