Note: Photographers’ Friday is a weekly blog series directed toward professional photographers, and in some instances, serious amateur photographers. All Photographers’ Friday blog posts will assume that readers have a basic working knowledge of digital SLR cameras, but if you’re left with questions or don’t understand any of the information, don’t hesitate to ask. We love e-mails!

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It’s something I tell our couples all the time: We go where there’s good light, not where there’s a pretty backdrop. That’s because good light produces great photographs. Pretty backdrops without great light produce . . . pretty backdrops in boring photographs.

So look for the light. It doesn’t matter what location that takes you to.

We shot the first half of Caitlin and David’s wedding day portraits right in their church parking lot. Because there was some deliciously soft light filtering through the trees in the distance. We’ve photographed couples right outside public restrooms, dragged them into underbrush-filled woods, and posed them right next to trash cans — all because we just want to put our subjects in the very best light.

If it sounds like chasing the light is going to make your job as a photographer harder, I’m here to tell you it isn’t. It’s freeing. Once you place the emphasis on simply finding great light, you don’t need to worry about seeking out the most perfectly manicured garden or a dramatic skyscraper rooftop in order to feel confident that you’ll produce great images. In fact, you’ll start seeing opportunities for amazing photographs in some really unlikely places.

Like that time Danny and I were sitting in the Chick-Fil-A drive-thru, and I suddenly pointed to a spot at the edge of the parking lot. There were cars all around, and a highway just behind it. But I realized that, if I photographed someone in that exact spot from just the right angle, all you would see in the photograph would be the subject, some tall grass waving in the breeze, trees on the other side of the highway, and the golden hour light spilling from the sky. And I knew in that instant that if I’d had someone to photograph then and there, it would have been one of my favorite pictures ever. And it would have happened just a few feet away from a drive-thru window.

The moral of this story is that there are opportunities for great photographs everywhere, and they’re easier to locate than picturesque backdrops. Become a light chaser. It will absolutely change the way you approach photography.

~ Laura