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OK so this is the first time I've started a topic - please be gentle with me! 
What is the best time of day to take portraits outside? I seem to get shadows on my subjects faces whatever time I take the pictures. ( I know .... it's a really duh question)
Thanks
Milly
As Martin has suggested, Place your subject out of direct sunlight, And use some fill flash or a reflector....!
Reflectors come in various types, Silver, White,Gold, And one some brands call " Sunburst " Sunburst is a mix of Silver & gold, It's not as harsh as silver, And not a gaudy as gold......!
If you look for a reflector to use, Try and get one that has White on one side, I find the straight white gives a much softer light, More suited to portraits....
EDIT: D I Y Tip, If you want to experiment with a white reflector, You can always try using a piece of white card, Or stiffened white paper, Cost pennies, Or you may have something laying around at home......!
Certainly worth a try.....
I wouldnt bother with reflectors or anything. Just look at the way the light falls on your subject and utilise it to best effect. there is nothing wrong with a bit of shadow as it is natural. Im doing a beach shoot next thursday with a bird in a bikini so i will post a few of the shots on here and descibe the approach i took to get them,. james
Quote: Im doing a beach shoot next thursday with a bird in a bikini
Amazing ! How do you get a seagull to wear a bikini ?? I await the pictures with bated breath James !!!
There is nothing wrong with a bit of shadow in fact without it it is difficult to recognise shape and form however where the problem comes is if the difference in light levels between shadow and highlight are too great. You can not leave it to the natural light alone, you will need a reflector or flash (preferably off camera).
Here is some simple advice, think of your subject as being the centre of a clock with you stood at 6 O'clock. What we now need to do is work out where the sun will be which will also depend on the time of day. Because you have said it is during the day at the beach it is probably best to assume that the sun will be high in the sky so between 10 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon.
If you shoot with the sun being between about 4 and 8 on our clock you will get deep shadows in the eye sockets (I was taught that you call this Panda Eyes).
If the sun is between 2 and 4 or 8 and 10 you will get one side of the face in bright sunlight and the other in shadow.
This leaves the area between 10 and 2 with a lot of photographers for ease using the 10 or 2 position. It will put the front of your subject in shade and you can then control how much reflector or fill flash that you use.
Remember to meter off of the subject and not the whole scene as they are the important thing. If the day is overcast then so much the better as the clouds act as natural reflectors and the lighting is a lot less directional.
Mike
Hi there, I find a reflector invaluable for outdoor portraits, using it to bouce light back from the direction of the light. It can also provide lovely catchlights in the eyes. Typically I use the silver side if it's overcast, and white if it's brighter. You can pick up a 5-in1 reflector (gold, black, white, silver and diffuser) off Ebay for around £10.
Hope that helps,
Geraint
EDIT: I agree with Mike above about being careful with the metering - I use spot metering to make sure I get what's important (the face) is properly exposed.
Quote: Im doing a beach shoot next thursday with a bird in a bikini
Is there no limit to this man's talents? 
Sheila
Milly, have a look at these videos on EPZ TV by Damien Lovegrove, and also the ones with Mark Gleghorn, lots of tips for using natural light, flash, reflectors etc.
Though I'm no expert in portraits all the above makes sense. I'll throw in my 2 cents from a landscape point of view. I think you need to look at the situation of the overall scene as well. Bear in mind if you're shooting with a beach/sky situation (take the child out of it for a second for the sake of argument) in the daytime there's likely to be a wide difference in exposure between the foreground and the sky, which might be too wide for the camera to deal with (so for a single exposure in harsh light situations either the sky goes white (burnt out) or the sky is right but the beach too dark. The kind of situation where if it was just a landscape or seascape you'd use an ND grad filter to narrow the range of brighness between the two. You can't do this here however because of the child in the foreground (who would go darker from above the horizon...)
therefore it's important (as well as using the flash/reflectors etc to light the child's face) to try and shoot in conditions where the overall dynamic range of the scene is within what the camera can handle. Which means avoiding bright contrasty conditions and too much sunlight and shooting away from the sun. Overcast conditions and avoiding the hours around noon and early afternoon will help there
Stephen
Ok .. a few tips
First of all reflectors are a useful and often crucial addition.
Portraits are not all about big mood and lots of contrast and dont worry yourself too much about the exposure of the background as long as you get the exposure of the model right.
Obviously try and come up with clean backgrounds. Generally use a wide aperture to throw the background out of focus unless it provides crucial context to the shot. Think about clean backgrounds and clean but striking outfits .. also think about making use of colour anf form thorugh interesting poses and body shapes in your shots.
Reflectors help to take out harsh shadows and provide more even illumination to skin. You dont have to shoot in overcast conditions either and dont be afriad to shoot in bright sunlight. Browse through high end magazines and see how many shots are taken in these sort of conditions and try and work out why they work. Obviosuly flash is useful sometimes too ... and can be bounced off reflectors as theres often nothing above but sky
Shooting with the sun behind the person, versus shooting into the sun will give amazingly different effects so do think about where you place the person relative to the light and make appropriate metering adjustments.
Minor adjustments to reflectors will also make a big difference to the final look of the shot so consider this too. The more the subjects face fills the frame the more post processing you will need to do (generally) for it to be flattering.
Hope some of that is useful ....
Dan
It seems the fundamental has been overlooked. Just look at your subject and you will see where the shadows fall. WYSIWYG. And then position your reflector or what have you - even the beach umbrella! - to achieve the effect you want. Nevertheless, shade is better.
**** M.
It's worth noting that a reflector in bright sunshine will throw bright light on the subject and it's easy to blind them. If it's a kid this can result in someone who isn't keen to pose for you.
I have a large reflector that can be unzipped to reveal a large diffusion panel, cost about £20 off ebay from China.
Or indeed left zipped up in it's black cover to provide shadow
If you have a helper to hold it you have shade or diffused sunlight wherever you need it.
I might add that I've never used it for either of these functions (mostly do do with lack of a decent helper LOL) so if you give that a go I'd like to see the results.
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