Shooting outdoors on a sunny day. How to photograph against the sun. Photography lesson. Step-by-step instructions with a photo

Hurray, friends! Summer is literally in a couple of days, which means that the season of beautiful sunny photographs that will brighten up our long winter evenings is open. Today we will talk about how you can photograph a beautiful portrait on a bright sunny day.

I have said more than once that good lighting is the key to successful photography. And it seems - the same ideal conditions: bright light - great pictures. But not everything is so simple.

Unfortunately, the rule "more light - better photography" does not always work. And in the case of portraits on a bright sunny day, we generally face a number of serious problems.

For example, shooting on a sunny afternoon, when the sun is at its zenith and the light falls directly from above on the model, often leads to the fact that the model has deep shadows on the face. With the upper hard light on the face, a very contrasting cut-off pattern is obtained - strong shadows under the eyes, nose, chin. Such lighting can ruin even the most beautiful girl. And posing under the scorching sun is not an easy task. Try going outside on a hot summer afternoon without your sunglasses, and without squinting and looking relaxed and natural. So why shouldn't we photograph at noon now? Of course, it is better to choose a more favorable time of the day for a photo shoot, but sometimes we have no choice. Just remember about little tricks that will make your life much easier and improve the quality of your photos.

1. Take pictures in the shade

If you are not shooting in the desert, then even on the hottest afternoon you can always find open shade - from large buildings, trees, awnings, etc. In the shade, the light is very soft and you will get photos with even lighting on the subject's face. Shooting in the shade will help you avoid the hassle of working with harsh sunlight. The key point here is not to find the darkest place, but rather a uniformly darkened area (large uniform shadow), where the light, albeit in a small amount, but evenly falls on the face. Taking pictures under trees with sparse foliage is not a good idea, as the foliage will leave a kaleidoscope of brightly lit and darkened spots on your face.

Try using a wide-brimmed hat or umbrella to create an evenly shaded area. Or ask the assistant to hold the reflector so that the shadow covers the model's face. When moving from bright light to shade, remember to adjust the white balance.

2. Use a reflector

Any surface that has the property of reflecting light towards the subject can act as a reflector. If you are planning a photo shoot and are preparing in advance for shooting, be sure to bring a reflector with you. I usually use silver and white for reflections, if you want to add warmth to your images, you can use a gold reflector with care. Especially suitable for red-haired or dark-skinned models. If you don't have a reflector at hand, you can use materials at hand. Any white or light colored surface can serve as a reflector. A light wall, a white T-shirt, aluminum foil, or a light reflector for a windshield in a car can all be used for shooting. Place the reflector opposite to the direction of incidence of the light - so that the reflected light falls on the model's face slightly from below and from the side. This will fill in and soften the deep shadows. If it happens on a sandy beach, then everything is even easier. Ask the subject to lie down on the sand, and the amount of light reflected from the light-colored sand will be enough to illuminate the subject's face.

3. Use a diffuser (diffuser)

The diffuser softens the direct light flux and thus reduces the possibility of overexposure. It also increases the surface area of ​​the light source, and as a result, shadows from the subject of your photo are significantly softer. 3-rasseivatel-hand-made1

The simplest and yet most effective flash diffuser can be made by hand using heavy white paper and an elastic band to secure the paper to the flash. In principle, any white translucent material can be used to create the diffuser. The main thing is to show a little imagination, but for people who do not want to reinvent the wheel there are ready-made serial universal flash diffusers.

4. Use a flash

It may sound counterintuitive, but it is the flash that allows us to deal with the harsh shadows on the subject's face. The flash acts as a fill light source, and removes unnecessarily darkened areas. If your camera allows you to change the flash intensity, then experiment with the flash level compensation settings and find a value that will remove shadows, but at the same time will not unnecessarily and artificially highlight the face. To get the best shot, set the exposure down a few stops. Check the result and make sure that the image was not too overexposed or, on the contrary, dark. The flash slightly darkens the background, which in this case only plays into our hands. A subtle contrast of light between the face and the background will add depth to the photo. Using the flash will also allow you to shoot the subject even with the sun behind her. The light falling from the back will beautifully highlight the hair, highlight the contour of the shoulders, giving the photo a certain charm.

Surely, when you took your first steps in photography, you were taught to keep the sun behind you so that it completely illuminates your subject as the main source of light. When shooting in the sun, you will most likely have some problems, it is a faded sky and a poorly lit main subject. In general, not a good location of the sun at first glance. But when you learn how to use light correctly, you will realize that when the sun is in front of you, you can get great pictures. In this photography tutorial, you will learn all about the techniques needed to create stunning shots against the sun.

This photo is taken towards the sun shortly after sunrise. The sun also illuminates the grass with a glow from a glare.

Glare effect

Unless you are photographing a sunset or sunrise, you should avoid aiming the camera directly at the sun. Try to compose the frame so that the sun is behind the frame.

Following this rule will have two effects: you will see that your entire frame is "glowing" from the sun's rays, or it is very likely that you will also see an arc of light passing through your frame. Both of these effects can be used to your advantage to create a more artistic looking photo. If you want to avoid this, use a lens hood. You can also try to keep your palm over the lens to prevent sunlight from entering the lens.

There is a glow in this image caused by highlights. You can see how it fits into the frame in the upper left corner.

Sunbeam diffraction effect

Sun diffraction is technically another aspect of lens flare. This is a more desirable and beautiful effect, and you can better control its occurrence.

To achieve the effect of diffraction of sunlight:

1. Compose your shot so that the sun is in it, but partially behind the obstacle. The time of day is not so important, but it is easier to control this effect during the golden hour and at sunset or sunrise.

2 ... It is necessary to hide most of the sun and leave only a small part of the frame. If you make it too small, then the effect of the diffraction of sun rays will not be noticeable. If you leave too much sun, it will light up your frame. Placing the sun behind the leaves of a tree is the ideal solution here.

3 ... This effect is caused by the aperture of your lens. The amount of sun exposure is determined by the number of aperture blades in your lens. 2 rays will appear on each petal.

4. The effect itself occurs when you close the lens aperture to a narrow value. The f / 11 values ​​will give us this effect.

5 ... Shooting against the sun often leads to the fact that instead of the main subject, only its silhouette appears, and its details will fall into the shadow. If you want to bring out the details of your subject, you will need to make exposure compensation to overexpose the shot. The exposure compensation plus can be +2 or +3 stops.

6. With a narrow aperture and plus exposure compensation, the shutter speed can be slow. Therefore, either use a tripod or compensate for this slow shutter speed by increasing the ISO.

Closing the aperture allowed the sun to appear in this photo as a diffraction effect from sunlight.

Shooting silhouettes

Silhouettes are not only the cost of shooting against the sun, but the subject itself. When you're photographing in the sun, you always have a good chance of creating silhouettes. Getting the best silhouettes requires a little preparation. You need to plan your shooting and choose the best shooting angle.

1. The first step is to decide which object you will be silhouetted for. Is it a person or an architectural structure? Perhaps this is a lonely tree in a field.

2. In which direction will you photograph this object? When do you need to arrive at the location in the morning or evening so that the sun is behind the subject when you photograph it?

3. If you are only shooting the silhouette of your subject against the sky, you often need to kneel down and shoot from a low point. By shooting from the bottom, most of your subject will appear as a silhouette, since most of it will be against the background of the sky. As a rule, where the horizon line crosses the silhouette, or rather below this line, the object will not be visible as a silhouette and will merge with the background, therefore it is more expedient to shoot from a lower point.

4. Look at the position of the sun in the sky. Is it too bright and the light from it is too intense? Can you hide the sun behind an object? Is it possible to create a diffraction effect of the sun's rays behind the silhouette?

It was the perfect place to get a silhouette. The person looms against the background of the sky and the reflective surface of the water.

Sunsets and sunrises

Sunsets and sunrises are one of the most popular scenes for almost every photographer. This time of day fascinates photographers of all levels, and you definitely don't even need to be a photographer to appreciate these colors in the sky. This time of day is also the best time to photograph against the sun. Especially when it is close to the horizon, as the sun does not overload the photo with too much light.

So what should you look for to get the best score?

Know the point of sunset and sunrise- the sun changes position in the sky in winter and summer. Use resources such as SUNCALC to find out exactly where the sun will set and rise on the date you want at your chosen location.

Check the weather- cloudy days will not allow you to properly shoot a sunset or sunrise. Always check the forecast and try to choose the optimal conditions. Also, do not look for a completely clear day, 30-50% cloud cover is what you need. The sky is more beautiful when the rays of the rising or setting sun are reflected from the clouds

Explore the location“Knowing a great place to shoot on a good sunrise day is good. Knowing exactly where the best shooting point is is even better.

Focal point- Unless the sky is truly epic for your sunset or sunrise, you'll need a focal point to show interest in photography. A lone tree or structure is often a great item. Likewise, a river that has a reflective surface and is possibly a guideline will work well as well.

Filters- For landscape photography, when you are photographing in the sun, ND gradient filters are often needed. Be careful that the sun does not create unattractive or unwanted reflections when using them.

Post-processing- post-processing can enhance your images. Using techniques such as stitching multiple frames together with different settings and applying gradient filters can enhance your shots.

Sunset and sunrise are always adorable to take photos with the sun in the background.

Equipment

There are several useful accessories to have when shooting against the sun. Depending on the type of photo you are taking, you will need either one of this list or all of these:

Lens hood- it is necessary to minimize or eliminate the effect of glare in your images.

Filters Using a polarizing filter is a good idea for landscape photography in general. Taking photos against the sun means using ND gradient filters is also a good idea.

Flash. If you want to illuminate a person or subject when photographing against the sun, you need to use a flash. Without it, you will have silhouettes of people or objects. If you want to avoid this, you need extra light.

Reflector- can be used to reflect and direct sunlight onto the person or object you are photographing. They are more commonly used for portraits and can be used on their own or in combination with flash.

In this photo, an external flash was used to illuminate the couple.

Digital mixing

Digital blending is a post-processing technique that uses luma masks to control the light in your photo. This technique can improve the quality of landscape shots taken against the sun. This is a big topic, described in more detail

To get the best results from this technique, you will need a tripod and exposure bracketing (where three or more shots are taken from the same point at different exposures). Then you will need to take the time to study the luminance masks so that you can get a natural and professional result.

In this image, I used digital blending with luma masks. The rocks in the foreground have been lightened and the sky has been darkened.

Conclusion

For the photographer, the sun is the main source of light. Knowing how to best use it is vital to getting good pictures. In this article, you learned how to photograph against the sun is more fun and creative than taking pictures with the sun behind you.

Are you going to relax in nature or on the beach with friends on a warm sunny day? Be sure to take your camera with you to take interesting memories. And to make the pictures not only interesting, but also of high quality, during the photo session use our simple tips for shooting portraits in bright sunlight .

1. Find a shadow

Every professional photographer knows that capturing a top-notch portrait in the bright midday sun is not as easy as it sounds.

Firstly, the sun at this time is too high, which means that its rays fall on the subject from above (and not from the side, as is the case with the evening and morning sun), and at the same time create ugly shadows on the face (for example, shadows under the eyes).

Secondly, so that dark shadows do not form on the model's face, she has to pose for you against a light source, which means that she will have to endure the bright sun that hurts her eyes. Such self-sacrifice is unlikely to produce natural photographs.

What can be done in such a situation? The first step is to find a thick shadow. This should be a place where your subject will be evenly lit, for example, deep in the forest. But in any case, do not photograph in the shade of a tree with sparse foliage, because in this case, sunlight passes through the crown and creates bright light spots on the model's face.

2. Take a backlit portrait

By photographing a person against the sun, you can get very beautiful and romantic photos. The counter light gently falls on the contour of the model and thus creates a magical glowing halo. But the face of the model from this kind of lighting can turn out to be too dark in the photo. To avoid such an unexpected darkening effect, set up the camera, for example: metering - spot, - f4, - 1/50 sec, ISO 200. light. You may, on the contrary, have to cover, not reveal.

3. Turn on the flash

This is perhaps the easiest way to photograph a portrait in bright light. Simply turn on the flash to illuminate the deep shadows that form on the subject's face from the bright sun. The main thing is to keep a distance between the subject and the camera to avoid unwanted overexposure. If you want to take a close-up photo of a person, then it is better to use the zoom. If you have a fixed focal length lens, adjust the flash power to minus or attach a small white sheet to its head. It not only adjusts the flash output, but also acts as a light diffuser.

By the way, the flash can be either external or built-in.

If you haven't brought a foldable reflector with you, don't be discouraged. Look for a replacement. This can be plywood, a large piece of cardboard, aluminum foil, or a white cloth (such as a T-shirt or towel). Of course, for such a portrait shooting, you need an assistant who will hold your reflector, even if it is a homemade one.

By the way, you can use a light wall or fence, water or sand (if you are photographing on the beach) as a natural reflector.

We are often asked "how to photograph in sunny weather?"

The difficulties of photographing are quite understandable - most often people go to be photographed at the most convenient time for them - during the day, in sunny weather, when it is pleasant to walk in the park, sit on the shore of the pond ... well, and take some memorable photos. And everything would be fine, but! shines during the day
Sun. We take a camera, take a photo, look at the camera screen and everything seems to be fine with us. However, we come home, copy the photos to the computer and see that wild overexposures are visible on our faces, deep shadows in the shadows of the trees, and often the camera could not catch sharpness at all due to the sun's rays that hit the lens.

What is the problem and what can be done about it?

The reason for many overexposed shots taken in sunny weather is roughly the same as why we do not see relief in the sun - the range of capabilities of the camera (and the human eye) is limited - the range of brightness that the camera can capture is called the dynamic range. And this range has certain limits. Therefore, if you have 2 objects in your photo that have too wide a spread in brightness, it will be difficult for you to photograph both objects without losing the detail of one of them. One of these objects will be within the dynamic range of the camera (and will be well displayed in the photograph - with all the details), the second object will go beyond these limits, which means that in the photograph it will be just a white or black spot without details.

In sunny weather, this is exactly the situation. Those areas of the photo that are illuminated by direct sunlight are too bright, and the shadows are too deep. Of course, technology is not standing still and the dynamic range of cameras is now quite large, but this range is often not enough.

What to do?

The answer is simple: you need to make sure that the spread of brightness of all objects in the frame is not so great.

How to do it?

There are 2 options for solving this problem: either make the shadows lighter, or dim the lights. We cannot dim the sunlight, but we can make the shadows lighter - but this only applies to portraits - to make all the shadows in the frame, if nature enters there (shadows under trees, shadows from houses, etc.), alas, we are not Can. That is why knowledgeable photographers photograph landscapes, usually at sunrise or sunset, when the sun is no longer so strong.
shines and the spread of brightness in the frame is less than at noon.

Let's go back to the portraits. How to photograph a person in sunny weather so that there are no overexposures or deep shadows on the face?

In order not to bother yourself with time-consuming processing of overexposed faces in the photo, try to make the lighting on the model's face even during the photo shoot. Let's try to do this due to one or another location of the model relative to the sun. In some cases, we will use additional photography techniques.

So, the most undesirable option is the location of the model facing the sun.

Firstly, deep shadows appear under the model's nose and chin, and secondly, the sun shines in the model's face and it is often seen in the photo that the model is squinting. That is why this variant of the position of the model relative to the sun is rarely used.

Second option. Positioning the model sideways to the sun.

Features of this arrangement of the model:
- one side of the face is lit, the other is almost completely in shadow (half of the face is visible, half is not),
- the shadow from the nose is even larger than in the previous example,
- the neck area is strongly darkened by the shadow from the chin,
- the eyes are partially in deep shadow, which greatly affects the general perception of the photograph (remember that the model's gaze is the semantic center of the portrait and it should be clearly visible).
There is a strong variation in the brightness of the illuminated and unlit parts of the face. As a solution to problems with deep shadows, we can suggest the following: highlight the unlit part of the face using a reflector or off-camera flash.

The shadows from the nose and chin will become shallower - the light-shadow transitions will be softer. Such a photo will look much nicer.

The third option: we photograph the model with its back to the sun.

This arrangement of the model relative to the sun is more preferable (although there is a popular belief that this should not be done). Sometimes focusing on the model in this case will be difficult, however, if it was possible to focus, then the photo will have a clear advantage - the model's face will be illuminated evenly, and the sun's rays will emphasize the silhouette of the model. Sometimes interesting iridescent highlights also appear on the photo (although not everyone likes them). In any case, you do not have to align the light and shadow pattern on your face (highlight the shadows), which means you don’t need to take additional photo equipment with you to the photo session.

As we have already said, with such an arrangement of the model, it may turn out that the sun will fall into the camera lens - it will be difficult to focus in this case (sometimes, of course, the lens hood helps, but not always), and the photo loses contrast and rainbow reflections appear ... Despite this, these photos look very interesting.

The simplest solution to the problem of photographing in sunny weather is to place the model in the shade of a tree or at home - the sun's rays will not fall on the model's face at all, which means that there will be no need to equalize the brightness of individual parts of the face.

But in order for the frame to have the feeling of a sunny day, it is important that the part of the composition, illuminated by the sun, enter the frame. Thus, you get an evenly lit model and the feeling of a sunny day. Note that such a solution to the problem is also beneficial because you do not need additional photo equipment for a photo session.

By analogy, you can position the model in the shadow of any other object - for example, a tree. But from experience, we will say that it is not always easy to find such a tree under which there is a place where there would be a solid shadow - usually rays break through the leaves of the trees, which will leave light spots on the model's face - such portraits are difficult to edit, and light reflections make the face models less attractive.

Well, the most time-consuming way to make the illumination of the model's face even is to place a large white translucent matter between the sun and the model - then not the sun will shine on the model (the sun is hard light), but matter - and it will be soft light. But it is difficult to build such a structure, so this option is implemented when organizing large commercial photo and video filming.

As you can see, taking pictures in the sun during the day is not always easy. Therefore, for novice photographers, it is still better to start learning how to photograph in more favorable conditions, when the sky is covered with clouds or during the photographer's golden hours (closer to sunrise or sunset).

Successful photos!