How to make High noon lighting work for your portraits!

Last week we talked about sunrise and different angles.  This week I am going to show you how to make poor lighting situations work.  So, a lot of photographers refuse to shoot at noon or even an hour or two before and after noon.  I am going to show you how to make it work and that it really can be beautiful lighting.  

Sometimes you cannot control when your child is ready for pictures.  Now you can be ready anytime.  

What you need for these shots:
Camera (one that you can put on manual)
Reflector (foam board at michael's for $2.80)
Diffuser (rip stop fabric from local fabric store)
Helping hands

This is what noon lighting looks like with no tools.  Poor baby can't even see.

This is what noon lighting looks like with a diffuser. 

This is my pro diffuser but rip stop fabric works the exact same and it's a lot cheaper. (Wish I had known that before I bought this!)  The image to the right is with the diffuser and reflector.  The reflector is just in front of her.  I have it resting on my knees while I shoot.

The reflector was still present but not as close.  Theses images are a little darker than the rest.

And there you have it.  For under $10 you can create this lighting effect.  I think, out of all the images I took for these tutorials, noon or mid-day lighting is my favorite.