The current buzz word in location portraiture is cross-lighting, or wrap-around lighting as it is sometimes known. The technique is famously used in a very stylised way by Los Angeles commercial photographer Dave Hill and in a more natural way by New Zealand portrait photographer Brent Williamson.

There are several ways to achieve cross-lighting but the set-up that is fashionable at the moment has the sun behind the subject and over to one side, and an ambient-balanced flash in front of the subject and over to the other side. The sun and the flash need to be directly opposite each other.

A few weeks ago I was taking photos of children on a school trip and without intending to I used cross-lighting on some of the photos. They were really good! So I've been looking for an opportunity to try a proper cross-lighting set-up and this photo of the Portmahomack gala girls was ideal.

Portmahomack gala girls
Usually with a photo like this you achieve separation by using a shallow depth of field to throw the background way out of focus. But I wanted the scenery to be a part of the picture — out of focus, yes, but still recognisable. Another option is to under-expose the background but that produces a more moody and dramatic image that wasn't appropriate for a summer gala. So the picture was crying out for cross-lighting which allows you to keep the exposure nice and bright and the background as sharp as you want.

I hope the other newspaper photographers around here won't mind me saying that the usual close-up shots of gala girls are becoming tiresome, especially when some of them suffer from ugly backgrounds. I'd like to think that this photo raises the bar a little and from now on the papers might push for more creativity and variety in gala girl shots. (Beautiful scenery + beautiful girls = no excuses.) That said, I do know that this picture isn't perfect. I shot it from too far away and I didn't spot that the little girl's sash was folded.

Thanks to the gala organisers for helping to get the shoot done on a fairly tight schedule, and thanks to the girls for getting dressed up especially for the photo!