You're very welcome!
Yes, that's where you get into bouncing light, which I could make into a theme all on it's own, easily.
Let's pretend that, when you took the photo of Sasha that won the challenge, you had been standing with a white wall behind you. That would have bounced the sunlight back onto Sasha and filled in the shadows a bit. You also would have had an easier time getting a sharp focus on her.
I often use a large bounce made especially for photography when doing close range, back lit portraits. It is made to have a white side, a silver side, a gold side, and two chromakey sides (blue and green). I cannot function without it!
Some photographers prefer to use a flash to fill those shadows, and I do if necessary, but I love bouncing the natural light back (white side of my bounce) so I'm not worried about color temperatures.
Ah ok that makes sense! I think I may need to look at investing in a decent flash now haha