Do you think about light before you take a picture?
If you do, great! If you don’t, then welcome:) This post is for you!
You heard me say few times that one of my goal is show you that having expensive gear doesn’t make you a better photographer.
Understanding light is the key to improving your photography skills, not having expensive equipment.
There will be plenty of more posts surrounding the topic of lighting. But let’s get started with some tips that I personally use every time I pick up a camera.
Here are 3 tips for taking pictures in the bright sun. I think about these three things whenever I’m outside taking pictures so I hope this helps you.
1) Avoid having the sunlight come directly from the side
There are creative ways to make photos using this type of light but if you’re looking to get a flattering, clean portrait of people then sunlight directly hitting the side of your subject’s face creates harsh shadows and an unflattering portrait.
One side of the face is going to be bright and the other side is going to be in the shadow. Or the person closer to the sun will block the light and one person will be in harsh light and the other person will be in shadow. Not a good portrait.
Check out this photo I took of my son and wife. The lighting is terrible. The sunlight is hitting them from the side. Exactly what I’m saying to avoid;)
I knew the lighting wasn’t ideal but I was more concerned about the moment so I took it anyway. If I were to move them into better lighting then the moment would have been gone. I break rules all the time:)
(Above Photo: Straight Out Of the Camera: Shot in Manual Mode with a Canon 5D Mark II camera, Canon 24-70mm 2.8 L lens, ISO: 100, Aperture: 5.6, Shutter Speed: 1/500)
2) Keep the sun behind you
Embrace the sun! Keeping the sun behind you means the subject will be facing the sun. I don’t recommend doing this for portraits because when the sun is high up in the middle of the afternoon the person will squint or the sunlight creates dark shadows on the eyes. But it works if you’re getting candid shots, action shots or taking a landscape photo. Whatever you’re taking a photo of will be evenly lit and under the same lighting condition.
(Above Photo: Straight Out Of the Camera: Shot in Manual Mode with a Canon 5D Mark II camera, Canon 24-70mm 2.8 L lens, ISO: 100, Aperture: 5.6, Shutter Speed: 1/1250)
(Above Photo: Straight Out Of the Camera: Shot in Aperture Priority Mode with a Nikon D90 camera, Nikon 35mm 1.8 lens, ISO: 100, Aperture: 2.0, Shutter Speed: 1/4000)
And here are some examples from weddings I shot using this tip. By the way, I would like to clarify that the wedding photos I’m posting here were processed with Adobe Lightroom and are not straight out of the camera shots. However, I want to share them with you because sun was the only light source and I used the tips I’m sharing here.
(Disclaimer: Above wedding photos were processed with Adobe Lightroom and are not straight out of the camera shots. However, sun was the only light source and I used the tips I’m sharing here)
3) Keep the sun in front of you / behind the subject
I love doing this and do it all the time. When the light hits the subject from behind it creates what’s called a rim light around the subject. It separates the subject from the background and it’s pleasing to the eyes. I love it. Here’s a example of a photo from a wedding using this tip. Do you see the rim light around the bride and groom’s head and down his neck?
(Disclaimer: Above wedding photo was processed with Adobe Lightroom and is not a straight out of the camera shot. However, I wanted to share with you because sun was the only light source and I used the tips I’m sharing here)
Do you see the rim light around my son’s head and along his right arm? That’s what you’re looking for.
(Above photo: Straight Out Of the Camera: Shot in Manual Mode with a Canon 5D Mark II camera, Canon 24-70mm 2.8 L lens, ISO: 100, Aperture: 4.0, Shutter Speed: 1/250)
Train your eyes to see this without a camera. Next time you’re walking outside in the sun look for rim light around people’s heads.
You can apply this tip whether it’s midday when the sun is high or during sunset. And whether you shoot in “Auto”, “P”, “Aperture Priority(A or AV)” or “Manual Mode(M)”.
Look at the following pictures. These are straight out of the camera photos. I wanted to show you some examples of photos that I took in different modes so that you can see that it is possible to apply these tips no matter what mode you shoot in.
(Above photo: Straight Out Of the Camera: Shot in Auto Program mode with a Canon 20D camera, Canon 35mm 2.0 lens, ISO: 100, Aperture: 5.6, Shutter Speed: 1/250)
(Above photo: Straight Out Of the Camera: Shot in Aperture Priority mode with a Canon 20D camera, Canon 35mm 2.0 lens, ISO: 100, Aperture: 2.2, Shutter Speed: 1/1000)
When the sun is in front of you be sure to move around and place yourself in a position to avoid the sunlight shinning directly into your camera lens. It makes it difficult for the camera to auto focus and unless you’re in the right position it’ll also create a massive lens flare or overexpose the image.
So before you take your next picture look around and see where the sun is. Move around and position yourself or move the subject according to what type of look you want for your image.
Look at the subject before you bring the camera up to your face and see how the light is hitting the subject. You’ll see it if the shadows are too harsh on their faces. You’ll see a rim light if that what you wanted.
Are you thinking about light now?
Good.
Now go experiment and practice!
I want to hear about it. I want to know whether you succeeded or failed. Leave a comment and let me know your story, questions or post a link if you want to share some images. Have fun!
You have a excellent Blog here Mate. Adore your content articles quite informative, Please keep up the excellent work.
Appreciate it mate:)
What a great site you starting Peter! Thanks man I will be checking back often more your tips.
Hey Palmer! Thanks man!
Hey Peter! I just took Christmas card photos of my wife and I using your lighting tips. They turned out great! Thanks for the tips.
Nice! As soon as I saw it I was impressed by your use of rim light on the photo.
Helpful tips Peter! Thank you:)
Thanks Elmira! Let me know if you’d like me to cover anything in particular. Love seeing your great pics on fb:)
Thanks! It means a lot coming from you! I appreciate of you could cover some post production techniques in Lightroom. Thank you again
Thank you for the tips! Can’t wait to try them out.
Also, your son is ADORABLE!
Thank you Victoria! Hope what I shared helps. It won’t solve all your problems but it’s a start. Would love to know how it goes and please let me know if you run into any problems.
Excellent tips! Thanks for this article.
Thank you for reading. Glad you find it helpful.
Great tips explained well. Great work
Thanks Kevin!
Great tips, I plan to try them out when the weather gets warmer where I live. Love your wedding shots! You have a beautiful family. Thanks for sharing these tips, can’t wait to try them out!
Glad you find it helpful, Angie. Thank you for the kind words! Please let me know if you face any problems as you apply these tips.
I’ve always had trouble taking photos with the sun behind the subject but I’ll try your tips and let you know how it goes.
Very informative article, love all the photos. Thanks!
Glad you found it useful, Charleen. Would love to hear how it goes. Thank you!
Peter, do you change your metering mode at all when the sun is behind the subject?
Thanks,
Lora
Hi Lora,
I pretty much keep the metering mode at evaluative all the time, and it works fine. Spot metering will probably work better for backlit situations, but after shooting a lot in direct sun or backlit, I learned what the camera setting should be, so I don’t necessarily rely on the meter for that. But i should add that if you’re in aperture priority mode or manual mode, you’d want to look at the exposure bar and use the exposure compensation dial to overexpose a little so that the subject’s face isn’t dark and more accurately exposed when the sun is behind the subject. Did that make sense? Thanks for asking:)
Does that mean you shoot in program mode or do you use creative settings (since you mentioned aperture priority and manual modes?) Thanks so much for sharing your information. I love your work!!
I shoot in manual mode, and sometimes aperture priority mode. On my previous reply I was trying to also speak to some blog readers who might be shooting in program mode. Thank you for the kind words.
I noticed you have a site and are a photographer as well. Nice work! How long have you been shooting?
Well, I ran a childrens portrait studio for 6 years in CA and developed quite a passion for working with kids and photography there. I’d taken photo courses in college (I did not major in photography) but what really draws me to it (besides the end result of the images I capture) is the relationship with the client. I live to meet other people! I’ve been in VA only 3 years so technically, I’ve been “on my own” for less than 3 years.
I enjoy so much the ongoing learning aspect of photography… which ultimately keeps me very interested. Thank you for the compliment, however, I know I have a long way to go!
What is your biggest challenge now as a successful photographer? I find pricing quite a challenge.