 Laura Johnson |
Shooting into the Sun I know the rule about shooting with sun behind you, but sometimes that just isn't possible. What should I do when shooting into the sun to improve my pictures. The sun is not necessarily in the shot.
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Jeff S. Kennedy |
The "rule" about shooting with the sun behind you is an old one and was intended to help people determine exposures before cameras came equipped with meters. Some of the best shots come with the sun in front of you rather than behind. For example if I am shooting portraits in the sun I will place it behind my subject to rim light them. The most important thing about shooting in sunlight is to have a good lens hood. Next, the fewer filters you have the better. Filters seem to attract stray light and create flare and soft focus. Prime lenses (non zoom) are less subject to flare if that is a concern. But mostly I would say make sure you have a good lens hood.
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BetterPhotoJim.com - Jim Miotke  Contact Jim Miotke Jim Miotke's Gallery |
I agree with Jeff that some of the best, most artistic photographs can come from shooting into the sun. However, the general guideline comes in handy for those using limited point and shoot cameras, people who just want to get a basic, good photo, as well as those with old manual cameras. If you are such a person, take a look at the following two examples to see the importance of at least considering direction of light.
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Mark Oster |
Laura...excellent question. Keep in mind that I learned these techniques from Bryan Peterson's book "Understanding Exposure". First off, if you are close enough to your subject walk up to them and place the camera directly in front of their face to get your exposure reading. Lock it in somehow (usually not necessary for older manual cameras just set exposure and leave in place). Move back to your original location and shoot, disregarding any and all warnings about overexposure. The only problem I have found with this technique is that it usually "whites out" the skies and other bright objects. If you are shooting a scenic, I think you'll need to overexpose by at least one stop. It depends on your camera/lens/film combo and you'll need to do some experimenting. I have an older manual 35mm Mamiya camera and if I even think of shooting up in the air I need a 1.5 stop overexposure. On my minolta 800si, 1 stop over usually does it. Now if you want to capture all of the color and eliminate the "shadowed" areas you'll need to use a flash. I have found that setting me flash for 1/2 stop under exposure works real nice on the Minolta but again, you need to experiment with your camera. It always helps to burn a roll or two and just take'em to Walmart to check this stuff out. Make sure you tell'em DO NOT COMPENSATE for color or anything like that so you'll get accurate results.
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