Do you know how to properly photograph against the sun to get a good shot? How to photograph against the sun and get great shots How to photograph in summer on a sunny day

This is the most common question when it comes to this technique. It is very important to use manual mode in order to achieve the desired effect. Many people say that they shoot in Manual mode, but in fact, this is not entirely true, because they still use the exposure meter to set the settings. Most likely, it works just fine in your camera, but it is still not always accurate, especially if you are shooting against the sun. In this situation, the sensor thinks that the image will be overexposed, so if you adjust the settings based on this data, then your image will come out underexposed. Forget about what the sensor says and expose the skin of the subject using the histogram, preview on the display, do not forget to turn on the indicator of overexposed areas - make sure that the area in which the face is located is not blinking. In such a situation, it is perfectly normal for the entire background to be completely overexposed, in fact, this is exactly what gives the romantic mystery that you want.

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 that important, but it is easier to control this effect during 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 plus exposure compensation 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 point, 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. A 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 its 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 in 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 take an 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 these 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 method 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 luma 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 photographing with the sun behind you.

How to take pictures with a flash during the day and why bother with a flash during the day?

The question seems pointless, but when it comes to practice, it turns out that a flash, even on the sunniest day, can be an indispensable tool in the hands of a photographer.

In general, it is generally accepted that flash helps when there is little light, that is serves as an additional light source in poor lighting conditions - in the evening, at night, in the house, in the shade of trees, in cloudy weather. But when there is a lot of light, it can and should also be used. As they say - there is never too much good light.

So during the day, a flash is needed as softening shadows from the sun or other strong or harsh light sources. Mainly using flash during the day for photographing portraits... The harsh light of the sun can make very strong shadows on people's faces. Flash can soften these shadows.

High-speed sync shadow reduction on human faces

True, there are daytime flash limitations... Fast prime lenses are recommended for portraits. For example, a lens with an aperture of F2.8 and an ISO of 200 would require about 1 / 2000s-1 / 4000s on a sunny day. But there is flash sync concept with the camera shutter and often this synchronization runs into a certain limit. Basically, built-in flashes can operate at shutter speeds no faster than 1/200, 1 / 250s, or 1 / 320s, of course there are exceptions - this, etc. which can use shutter speeds up to 1 / 500s, but still, it's too long to take pictures in daylight. But even if you have one, you will be able to take pictures at faster shutter speeds only if your camera allows it.

Attention: not a single built-in flash on any of the CZK can work normally with shutter speeds shorter than 1 \ 500 s. The built-in flash of none of the DLCs has a fast sync mode.

Attention: High-speed sync is only available on many cameras in P, A, S, M mode.

An example of a portrait during the day. Flash on camera with flash card. Flash reduces the volume of the picture, but adds contrast and color.

In order to be able to use flash with very fast shutter speeds, a fast sync mode, which is called differently for different cameras from different manufacturers. For Nikon it is FP (fast pulse, fast sync), it allows you to use flash units and synchronize them with shutter speeds up to 1 / 8000s.

In order to be able to use this mode- need to:

1. For the camera to support fast sync mode
2. To make the flash support fast sync mode

Not all cameras can use this mode - mainly advanced amateur cameras and all full-frame DSLRs are among them.

Here is the exact list of Nikon CLCs that support the mode FP:

Flash in the afternoon. Shot with flash in FP mode mounted to the top left of the model to create just the right lighting.

As you can see, the choice among Nikon cameras is small. Younger cameras do not have this mode, which will not allow taking photos with a flash and a small one. But this is not a problem, since you can use neutral filters for decreasing . Polarizing filters also reduce shutter speed. Usually the need for flash during the day is very small.

Flash during the day allows you to get a portrait in a high key.

Not all flash units support this mode- small external flash units SB-300 cannot work in this mode. Nikon has no problems with FP mode, SB-5000. These flashes can handle shutter speeds up to 1/8000. Many third-party flash units also support FP mode, but it is often called differently, for example, the flash has an HSS mode that is exactly the same as FP mode.

When photographing with a flash during the day, remember that short and bright lighting requires a lot of flash energy. Funnily enough, high-speed sync flash recharges faster than normal flash, due to the unusual firing system in FP mode.

Portrait in the afternoon. The flash sometimes gives extra glare and can itself give extra shadows.

If you have an advanced camera with a fast sync mode, then most likely there is one for the built-in flash. This will allow your external flash to be used in remote control mode using protocol. That is, it will be possible to apply light at the desired angle and thereby create an excellent artistic photography. I advise you to experiment with flash photography against the sun to see how effective flash is in the daytime. For example, in the photo below, the girl is exposed to a back (strong side) light, if I had not used the flash, I would have got a dark face. With the flash, it turned out quite differently. However, using on-camera flash can result in a loss of volume in the photo.

Flash during the day in the strong sidelight of the sun.

Whether it is worth using flash diffusers, reflector cards - you need to look at the circumstances. As practice shows, sometimes very effective forehead flash in daylight, which is unacceptable when photographing people, for example, at night. When using the diffuser, the flash guide number is lost, which is already less than usual with fast sync. With fast synchronization, the flash makes a series of pulses with a huge frequency (about 50 kHz), the human eye does not see this, but this reduces the distance from which the flash can illuminate the subject. You can read how to increase the flash range in the section.

High speed sync. The flash made the subject stand out and added contrast.

Conclusions:

A flash during the day is just as useful as a flash at night, the main thing is to set it up correctly and remember that to get good pictures it would be nice to have a quick sync mode between the flash and the camera.

Helping the project. Thank you for your attention. Arkady Shapoval.

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 are going to 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 - so here are the 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 subject often results in deep shadows on the subject's 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 small 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, 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, since 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. Be sure to adjust the white balance when moving from bright light to shadow.

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 for the shoot in advance, 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 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 photography. Place the reflector in the opposite direction of the 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 thereby 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 thick 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 one that will remove shadows, but at the same time will not unnecessarily and artificially highlight the face. For the best shot, set the exposure a few steps down. 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. The 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 behind will beautifully highlight the hair, highlight the contour of the shoulders, giving the photo a certain charm.

Hello readers! With you again, Timur Mustaev. If we compare the photo session on the street on an ordinary sunny day, then these are completely different things. In the first case, there is often not enough light, this is a problem. In the second, there are no difficulties in terms of the same and finding options where to get some more light. Here is exactly: what to do, where to remove all these rays!

Therefore, on the agenda is how to use the bright sun for the benefit of your photographs and, most importantly, how to photograph against the sun.

One-on-one: the photographer against the sun

It is not hard to guess what kind of picture can be when there is a bright light behind the photographed object. The sun can be called its most intense representative. This is from a series of unfortunate inconsistencies called “what I see and what my camera sees”. The camera cannot display such contrasts.

As a result, the pictures look so dark that nothing can be made out, or so light that they will dazzle in the eyes. What do you like best? And the client? With ignorance of the specifics of this kind of lighting and inept handling of technology, the sun will turn out to be your worst enemy.

You've probably heard from photographers or while studying the basics of photography on your own that you should never photograph when the sun is in front of the lens.

Firstly, it spoils the optics, and secondly, which is already clear, photographs, in principle, do not work. I hasten to please - there is an essential "but" in these arguments. Photography, like any field of knowledge, has its exceptions. Shooting against the sun is one of them.

The use of light from the side or back is standard, offers many possibilities for a well-exposed shot, but alas, can be technically boring. Our topic is much more interesting. You just need to figure out what you can do and what can not.

So, the rules for organizing the filming process:

• Camera settings... I recommend shooting in manual mode, where you can perfectly align all parameters and get great results, or aperture priority, since f is extremely important here. Bright lighting dictates the need to cover the aperture: start at 8-9, but do not get carried away with high values, which generate more distortion. Select immediately. He saves the day on many occasions. Not only is there a chance in post-processing to “stretch” such a Raw image, but you can also create a high-quality HDR image.
• Shadow... If the conditions are such that you need to get an acceptable quality photo of a person or a certain object, and the sun is right in front of you, then find a shady place - there will clearly be more chances of getting a good shot. But this item is suitable only for those who do not have the goal of playing with the sun in the picture. It acts more as a hindering factor than an important part of the future picture.
• Improvised means... You may well use an object, such as a piece of paper, your hand, to block out direct sunlight and protect the camera and the image itself. In this case, it is useful to have. I cannot say that it significantly protects the penetration of intense rays into the lens, but it is better to use it on a sunny day. In addition, there are different types of hoods - with shorter or more prominent edges.
• Special technical accessories... The same reflectors that can be purchased in technical stores will fulfill the necessary role and remove and redirect excess light. They do their job very well, and are relatively inexpensive.
• Flash... I think many at first, if they saw a photographer shooting someone with a flash on a clear day, they would have a good laugh at him. But as it turns out, in vain. Most likely, such a specialist already understands the topic of our article and works competently with lighting. The flash will compensate for harsh object shadows and illuminate them. Of course, you can turn on the camera, but the best option here and in most cases would be to buy a good external flash. It is desirable to use.
• Using a filter... Usually a ND filter is used to soften the sun's rays. It will also be very useful if there is a reflection in the frame, for example, water!

Nature in the frame

It turns out that shooting with a DSLR camera directly in front of the sun is half the trouble. Real problems await you if you suddenly want to capture the sun in the frame! And, more likely, you will want to do it at dusk and dawn, when the sun is most beautiful. This is a magical watch for filming nature, also called the golden hour.

There will probably be less difficulties here, since the brightness will be lower, but it is still logical to apply the techniques outlined above: increase the value, obscure the sun, that is, partially hide behind some object (tree, building, etc.), shoot in high resolution and the obligatory use of an external flash if you want the person to be visible against the sun, and not be a black silhouette.

And it will also be appropriate to use light filters, for example, neutral gray. They are often used by landscape painters. By lowering the exposure, they show more detail in the brightest areas.

I love to shoot at sunset. Even with my great efforts, various shortcomings arise. A common phenomenon when a luminary is included in the frame is stripes around it, blurred outlines. To make the sun look even in the frame, everything has to be carefully edited in Photoshop.

Oddly enough, but with a DSLR there will be more problems than with a film camera, which is capable of capturing the sun disk in the form of a soft transition of the entire range of light. The matrix, however, will not be able to provide this, and half of the lights will be “knocked out”. It will be necessary to choose either in favor of what is in the shadows, or the information that remains overexposed. Alternatively, you can consider lightening or darkening certain parts of the image.

Advice to photographers

When you deliberately plan to take a photo against the sun, or even with its presence in the photo, then, most likely, you set special goals for yourself. You do not just want to get a vivid picture of a landscape or object, you want to add a lot of light, sunshine, joy or romance, novelty and originality to the image. The tasks can be different.

What I want to say - don't expect perfection from your photos. You yourself understand that this is somewhat stressful for the camera. Appearing glare, sharp contrasts, overexposure or underexposure, etc. are, rather, a gift, and you can use them to your advantage. They will add charm to the image!

That's all for me. But before I say goodbye to you, I want to recommend good video courses that will help you deal with your DSLR and teach you how to properly process your photos:

• DSLR for Beginner 2.0(if you have NIKON) or My first MIRROR(if you have CANON) - a course that will help you use your SLR camera correctly. Will reveal all the subtleties. It will teach you many tricks and guide you on the right path. A gorgeous video course especially for beginner photographers who really want to get the most out of their camera.
• Lightroom is an indispensable tool for the modern photographer- fast post-processing and grouping of your photos. An excellent tool for processing RAW files. A wonderful program and a very sensible, easy and useful video course.
• Photoshop from scratch in VIP 3.0 video format... If you are a completely newbie, as a photographer, and do not understand Photoshop at all, but believe me, any photo is processed, this is a regularity. Then this course will simply not replace you. Having familiarized yourself with the basic functionality of Photoshop, you simply do not want to part with it.
• Photoshop for the photographer 3.0. VIP... The last course is designed specifically for photographers to work in Photoshop. Correct processing, retouching, all possible elimination of defects in photographs and so on. Everything is shown with examples and everything is clear if you have the basics of Photoshop. Listen, if you really want to take photographs, then everything in this course you must know if you want to become a professional!

Everyone is happy! Come back to my blog again! Always glad to see you. Subscribe to the blog, share the article with your friends.

All the best to you, Timur Mustaev.