"Taking good photographs of people outside is as easy as point and press", that's what some of the advertising brigade would have you believe. It isn't as easy as that; if it was we wouldn't need the high street photographer would we. Taking care to follow a few simple rules will improve your photography no end. Firstly make sure that your camera is loaded with film. If digital, that you have a memory card of sufficient capacity to cover any eventuality, one or two GB should be enough, and make sure the batteries are in good condition. Put your sitter in a position where the sun is not causing them to squint. So you should have the light coming in from the side at an oblique angle or better still, have the light at the back of the sitter, this is called (contre-jour) or backlit, and then use a small amount of fill-in flash to lighten the shadow areas. Or you can use a reflector to throw a little light back towards the sitter.
