5 Tips for Shooting in Direct Sunlight

Have you ever had to shooting in full sun…had to do photography in harsh sunlight? Today I’m sharing 5 Tips for Shooting in Direct Sunlight and covering where should the sun be when taking portraits, shooting into the sun and camera settings for bright sunlight.

Sometimes the perfect moment presents itself in less-than-perfect conditions, like high noon when the sun is at it’s harshest! No matter how hard I try, those magical moments when you actually have your camera ready happen and I want to help you make the most of them. Here are 5 Tips for Shooting in Direct Sunlight!

Tips for Shooting in Direct Sunlight

1. Open Shade- If at all possible, find some open shade. This can be in the form of a large tree, a pavilion of some sort, your front porch, a sidewalk lined with trees- whatever you can find! It will immediately take the edge off the sun’s harsh rays and better help your subjects avoid that oh-so-flattering squinting!

2. Backlighting- If you can’t find open shade, the next best thing is to try and position the sun either behind or at a 45 degree angle behind your subject, also referred to as backlighting. This effect creates a beautiful glow around your subject and is much less harsh on their eyes.

The trick when backlighting is to make sure to properly expose for your subject’s skin and not over/ under expose too much due to all the light flooding your lens! No matter what time of day I shoot, I nearly ALWAYS use this method. I just love the look it creates.

3. Golden Hour- If you are able to, hold off on shooting until about an hour before sunset (or if you’re a morning person, the first hour after the sun rises). This is referred to as the “golden hour”, and it’s truly magical!!!

The light is warm and golden, it floods the air around you and creates this surreal feeling as you watch your tiny subjects dance around in the light, twirling and jumping. Ahhhh…. Seriously- if you haven’t ever shot during the golden hour, you MUST!

4. Use Your Surroundings- This works well with backlighting and especially so if you have an assistant. Backlighting can be tricky because there is SO much light behind your subject, but not enough in front of them to sometimes get a properly exposed image.

This can sometimes cause your clients to suffer from what I like to call “shark eyes”, where their eyes are just so dark you can’t see any catchlights or even what color their eyes are. I like to use my natural surroundings to bounce the light back onto them. A few ways to do this are through an actual reflector built for this, having an assistant hold it. You can also use a white wall if you’re shooting downtown, the white sand if you’re on the beach, a piece of white cardboard, almost anything!

5. Get Creative- I like to achieve this by truly just getting creative. Try a different perspective- is there something you can stand on and view your subject from above? Is your subject lying on the ground? Get down there with them or as the Digital Photography School says – make your own shade!

Were you unable to find shade and avoid the sun? Play with the harsh shadows and light and then consider converting to a black & white image- you might be surprised what you can come up with!

Most of all, the perfect image in my estimation is the one where you have created an emotion while viewing the images. A connection between yourself and your subject. My idea of a perfect image will never be the same as yours or the next persons, and THAT is what makes this journey so incredible! If we were all shooting the same thing, how quickly would we get bored?

So get out there, any time of the day, get creative and shoot because you love it. Shoot to create for you. For your family. For your memories. For your legacy. And then don’t forget to print them, because what good are all these images if they are stuffed away on a hard drive somewhere where they can’t be seen anytime.

Guest Blogger: Laura Jennings WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST

Laura Jennings Photography LLC, now in its 7th year, is a full time, full service natural light photography business. The artist, Laura Jennings, is a well-known destination wedding and portrait photographer and serves the Northwest Florida Panhandle as well as points unknown around the world! Laura specializes in beach weddings and family sunset photography and in her free time is a volunteer photographer for the Magic Hour Organization offering free photography services to terminal cancer patients and their families.

Laura was a 1st place winner in The 2016 Shoot & Share photography contest with over 225,000 entries from 120 countries and over 30 million votes. Locally, she is an extremely busy wedding and family photographer and was voted Best of Bay for 2016. Laura is periodically a guest blogger for The Perfect Pose and has been published in numerous newspapers and magazines such as Florida Today and The Circuit. She has even collaborated with a major television network on a new reality show concept! Laura is a member of PPA, APA, her local Chamber, and sits on the board of Magnitude Photography – A monthly fee based photographer referral service that matches quality photographers with clients nationwide.