Tutorial Tuesday | Tips for Shooting in Direct Sunlight

Shooting in Direct Sunlight

Sadly, not all of the fun things in life or the memories we want to capture happen during the gentle, soft light of overcast days or during those beautiful hours before sunset. Life goes on at all hours of the day.

On those gorgeous bright days during the summer, you most likely wont want to schedule a formal portrait session when the sun is bright and high in the sky, but you still want to be able to photograph your kids at play. Sometimes it’s possible to move into open shade or to create your own shade, if you’re prepared then you can also perhaps use a reflector or fill flash where needed. If your subject is in bright light, you’re just shooting casually and you still want to capture the moment, there are a few things you can do to make the best of it.

Have your subject’s back to the sun

If your subjects are facing the sun, they’re going to squint in the bright light and if the sun is high in the sky you’re likely to get some unflattering, harsh shadows. Have your subject face their back to the sun, or stand at a 3/4 angle with most of their back facing the sun. Move yourself around to find the best angle to shoot from, change your usual perspective if you need to.

Metering

In these sorts of conditions I usually use spot metering, choosing the main subject to meter off of. Don’t worry so much if you have some clipped highlights, you will lose some detail but that is almost inevitable in an uncontrolled shoot of this nature, just go with it.

Use shadows to your advantage

Sometimes on bright days, the shadows can add a little bit of fun to an image. Pay attention to where the shadows fall and use them as an additional element in your photo, or you could even make the shadow the focus.

Focus on details

If the light is too harsh and you’re getting strange shadows on your subjects faces, you can still capture the moment by focusing somewhere else. Little details like feet splashing in water, standing on wet sand at the beach, or little hands busy at play.

Thank you Rebecca for sharing some tips. I can not wait to give these a try. 

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