10 to 2 Is Hard To Do

What's the best time of day to shoot portraits?
Not from 10-2:00 pm, that's for sure!
Why?
Well, I can give you several reasons:

1. The Sun is beaming down from directly over head, creating shadows in your eye sockets.
2. If there's no cloud cover, the sunlight is bright and contrasty... not flattering for a portrait.
3. It's the hottest time of day - you sweat and your subject sweats.
4. If your model is posed at the wrong angle, you can get very harsh bright spots on their face, which pretty much ruins the picture because you can't recover that detail.
5. Moving from full sunlight to shade requires constant monitoring of your camera settings... if you're shooting on Manual... which I always do.
6. It's right around lunch time, so it's possible your subject is getting hungry and less patient.

My least favorite of these reasons are the high contrast light, and the overhead direction of the light.

These are my favorite ways to beat the sunny side blues:

1. At all costs, find some shade! PLEASE!
2. If you can't find shade, look harder! Then give up and turn your subject's back to the sun.
   

Actin' Kinda Shady
Shade is amazing. If you can find a nearby tree, building, juggernaut, or whatever, do your best to find some shade. The shade will reduce the light contrast and make a nice soft even lighting on your subject. If you can find a canopy of some sort that's ideal because it will block the direct overhead light and get rid of the "Raccoon eyes". Here's what a high noon picture looks like when you place your subject in the shade of a tree with a pond to camera right.

Ahhhh... Doesn't that shade feel great? Yeah, it does!
Some additional tips about using shade:

• Place your subject at the edge of the shade. Deep in the shade will cut down on the light considerably and flatten your lighting. Keeping them at the edge will provide more light, and add dimension to your lighting.
  
• Face your subject toward the open sky (away from the shade). This will light up their faces and add sparkle to their eyes.
• Keep track of your white balance settings. Either use "Auto WB" or use the "Cloudy" or "Shade" white balance settings to avoid a blue-tinted photo.
  

When There's No Shade Available
If you live in the Mojave Desert and there's not a tree or building in sight, then your second best option is to turn your subject's back to the sun. Turning their back to the sun will create soft even shade on the face, and light their silhouette with a golden rim light. This technique prevents your subject from squinting their eyes as well. Here are 2 examples:

Sometimes the light will look fine as it is using this technique, but sometimes you'll find your subject's face is too dark and everything else is bright. When this happens, simply turn on your flash and use it to fill in the shadows with light. In the skunk picture, the little stinker's face was a bit dark, so I bounced some light onto her with a white reflector. A flash would have worked as well.
Another way to add sparkle to the subject's eyes is to wear a white shirt. Your white shirt (if you're close enough) will bounce light onto their face and create a white reflection in their eyes.