Lighting for Outdoor Portraits

[frnak]

Hi all, I need some opinions to improve my outdoor portraits. So far my portraits seem to be lacking color and lighting. The subject never stands out from the environment. Here's an example of what I WANT to achieve.

I own a Canon 500D (T1i) with 50mm f1.8 II as my primary portrait lens. I shoot in daylight/cloudy, but was never able to achieve uniform lighting like the portrait below. What is it, that makes the subject stand out? Is it reflectors? Is it external flash? Is it exposure editing?

Some example of my shots can be found here as comparison: Alicia Cuzner Photoshoot Jiexin Liu Studio | Photography Blog



Thanks for your help!

[bhursey]

Looks like external off camera light or reflector..

[zona5101]

I think you judge yourself too harshly. The images of Alicia on your site link are very very nice - equally as nice as the ones you have posted here.

[scootermcq]

Your images are lovely and nothing to complain about. The only difference between yours and the example is the addition of off camera lighting. You can tell by looking at the eyes and seeing the catch lights. I honestly can't remember the last time I shot a portrait without some type of additional light and that is indoors and out. If you added an external light in a soft box at about at 45 angle to the subject, you would be kicking it like the examples you posted.

Edit. I should add in both your examples the photog has uses the sun as a hair/back light and used fill flash to expose the model

[candleman]

there is direct sunlight on your models face.. -1
never alow sun spots like that on the face, face their backs to the light or find a better spot with more even shade.

i'll bet those models in the posted pics are in shade with a large reflector backlighting them.