Natural light is going to be all of your light coming from the sun. But, we can use more tools to assist us in using the suns natural light.

Some variety of ways we can use the sun can include, sunrise sunset to capture golden hour, mid day will give you more harsh direct overhead lighting, cloudy days to create a soft light.

Reflect Light

In portrait photography we often want to light up the subject but not too harsh, while also keeping the background well lit. Some may think of using a flash, while this may work for early morning or late afternoon shoots, the sun will wash out the flash. One alternative for mid day shoots with sufficient lighting would be to use reflectors. These are used to bounce the natural light in a certain direction to fill shadows on our subject.

Diffuse Light

Another way to use natural light is to diffuse it. When it is mid day and the sun is right over top but it is clear skies and it is washing out your subject you can use like a white sheet or thin fabric to diffuse the light to make it a more slight light source.