How to take saturated portraits like these (with natural lighting)?

Question

The photographer of these portraits claimed he used a 50mm f/1.8 prime with no special lighting equipment:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5163/5318756409_9f4ec94f5b_z.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5008/5279497539_a2e4c326ce_z.jpg

No matter what I try I can't have the same saturation. The highlights in the models' eyes and on their lips are very difficult to achieve too. Any idea?

Here is one of my attempts:

Answer

I can tell you how this was shot, assuming "no special lighting equipment" is true:

• Choose to shoot on an overcast day, or cloudy (but not dim) day.
• Shoot outdoor
• Have the model look straight or slightly up, so the top of her eye reflects the sky, giving the highlight

The lips are not that shinny unless you put some lip gloss on. So I think that is a different matter (its more about choosing the right makeup than lighting the model)

If you show us some of your attempted shots, we can observe your approach and let you know what should you change to achieve the result you want.

Edit: the attempted image you post is underexposed (arguably), and the white balance is off, giving a blueish tint. The hood also makes the light uneven, a good way to counter that would be to use a reflector. Lastly to get catch light you need a light source that is bright, small, placed high and inbetween you and your model. Sometimes you can use the sky if the angle is right, sometimes you can simply use something like a -2EV flash (on camera), or the catch-light card on dedicated external flash units like the 580EXII

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