How to take a portrait on a sunny day. Secrets of successful portrait photography in bright sun. Bowstring for stairs, features of fastening and marking

Publication date: 10.08.2015

In the previous part of the lesson, we studied the operating hours - evening and morning lighting. We have found that in most cases it is the most beneficial for shooting. However, what should a photographer do during the remaining hours? He won’t be bored: good light can be found not only in the morning or evening, but also during the day.

In this article we will look at the different lighting conditions you may encounter in daytime. Which ones are most beneficial for shooting? Let's find out!

Let’s immediately define the concepts. The photographer's day begins approximately two to three hours after dawn - at this moment the Sun is already quite high above the horizon. The day ends, accordingly, 2–3 hours before sunset.

Daylight in clear weather

We call clear weather one in which the solar disk is not covered by clouds.

Since the Sun is high above the horizon, light falls on objects from above. This kind of lighting is familiar to the human eye. Therefore, our perception often does not notice dark, contrasting shadows cast by objects on a clear day. The same applies to bright reflections playing on objects. But in the photo these shadows and highlights will be quite noticeable. Rough shadows can appear in patches on people's faces. Such lighting poorly emphasizes the volume and texture of objects. Therefore, daylight in clear weather - perhaps worst lighting for photography, especially for taking portraits.

Hard, “flat” light, dark contrasting shadows - you will have to deal with all this when photographing during the day in sunny weather. The downside of sunny weather when shooting a portrait is that your model will squint in the sun. You will have to constantly take this fact into account when choosing angles that are comfortable for her. The disadvantage of bright sunlight regarding technology is that in it the image on the camera display becomes indistinguishable and faded. Owners of cameras without viewfinders (compacts, some mirrorless cameras), where the image can only be viewed using the display, will suffer especially from this: they will have to shoot almost blindly. Owners of cameras with viewfinders, which provide a bright and clear image in any weather, will be in an advantageous position.

The advantage of daylight in clear weather is its intensity. In such bright light, it is unlikely that you will be able to get “shake” in the pictures, and you won’t need to increase the ISO - photographs during the day turn out well technical quality(sharp, without digital noise) even for beginners. Whereas for effective shooting in the evening or in the morning, sometimes you need to understand the shooting parameters.

How to take pictures on a sunny day? Let's give some advice.

Take pictures of objects that are distant from you. Hard shadows and bright highlights will be less noticeable on them. At the same time, it is unlikely that it will be possible to obtain the same volume in the image as in the case of shooting during normal time.

Shoot in the shade. If you want to photograph a portrait on a sunny afternoon, but ugly shadows or glare constantly appear on the model’s face, take her away from the sun. Try shooting in the shade of trees and houses. By the way, you won’t have to squint in the shadow of the model, which will make shooting much easier.

Let the shadows and highlights work for you! Create an interesting story using the hard shadows and highlights available. Take photographs of the shadows of passers-by and observe how they intersect with the shadows of other objects. Look for their interesting combinations! It’s the same with glare: sometimes they can beautifully fall on a particular object.

Use reflectors and diffusers for portrait photography. If you still managed to spend portrait photography during the day in sunny weather (for example, at a wedding), use simple devices to improve the nature of the lighting. A diffuser will help soften shadows and highlights on the model’s face; just place it between the model and the sun. But reflectors are more often used; they are needed to highlight the shadows on the model’s face. Remember how, as a child, you blew sunbeams into your friends’ faces. The principle of operation of the reflector is the same. With the help of these devices, the photographer will receive the minimum lighting control capabilities with which he can already work. Of course, both reflectors and diffusers are used only when photographing objects at short distances - people, objects. The more overall plan you take, the larger the reflector or diffuser you are likely to need. For shooting landscapes, neither one nor the other will help at all, since all the subjects in the landscape are too large and far away to somehow correct the light falling on them.

Overcast

In cloudy weather, sunlight is scattered due to a continuous layer of clouds in the sky. Oddly enough, cloudy weather is much more advantageous than clear weather for daytime photography. Thanks to the diffused light, contrasting shadows and bright highlights are not formed on the subjects: the light is soft and pleasing to the eye.

The light may not be very expressive, but it is comfortable. This lighting is especially suitable for portraits. For greater expressiveness portrait shots taken in cloudy weather, you can use high-aperture optics. This will greatly blur the background in the pictures, thereby slightly hiding the imperfections of lighting in cloudy weather (excessive uniformity, low contrast).

For landscape photography, lighting in cloudy weather can seem dull. However, even in cloudy weather it is quite possible to find subjects for landscape photography: they can be based, for example, on searching for outlines. Invent landscapes in the spirit of Michael Kenna, work with long exposures!

This shot allowed me to make it waterproof Nikon camera D810: The shooting point was so low that he had to take a short swim in a puddle. Thanks to reliable protection from moisture, the device remained intact, and the shot was quite successful.

Nikon D810 / Nikon AF-S 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5G ED Nikkor

Partly cloudy

Sometimes individual clouds float across the sky, either covering the sun or allowing it to peek out. Wait for the right moments of light! When they come, don't hesitate: the light can change quickly in this weather.

Of course, the obvious option is to wait for moments of diffused light when the sun is covered by clouds. But it’s all up to you: experiment and get original shots!

Partly cloudy weather is good for landscape photography. However, the lighting is still not as interesting as during normal hours.

Thunderstorm, rain

One of the most interesting conditions of lighting is light during an approaching or passing thunderstorm, heavy rainfall, when part of the sky is covered with black clouds, and the other is open to the sun's rays. This creates an interesting lateral direction of light. This lighting can be used in both portrait and landscape photography. It is perhaps as interesting as the regime time. But, unfortunately, such light happens not according to a schedule, but only by the will of the elements.

Most of our most vivid memories are from summer holiday at sea, trips with friends to nature, walks in the warm rays of the sun. You want all the photographs you take to turn out perfectly, and sometimes it’s annoying to find that the pictures are not clear enough and that faces are overexposed.

Setting the light correctly when taking photographs is 50% of success, but what if you have to take photographs outside on a hot sunny day? Let's take a closer look at options for shooting portraits in bright sunlight.

Take photos in the shade

The simplest thing you can do is to place the model in the shade, where the subject is not exposed to direct sunlight: near a tall building, under a tree. The main thing is that the shadow is uniform, otherwise ugly images will appear on the faces of those photographed. dark spots, which are very difficult to get rid of even with the use of Photoshop. If there is no shadow nearby, it can be created using the black side of a reflector or a special umbrella.

Take photos with backlighting

In other words, turn the model away from the sun so that the rays fall on her back. Thus, the hair and body contours are highlighted, while the face remains in shadow. Depending on how high the sun is, the highlighted areas will only highlight the subject.

In any case, this option for posing the model will allow you to get a clear face in the photograph without a sharp transition from bright light to shadow.

You should also pay attention to how your camera lens perceives oncoming light. It may be necessary to close it in such lighting.

Use flash

Oddly enough, shooting with flash in bright sunlight can improve the quality of photos, and sometimes you simply cannot do without additional lighting. The main problem when shooting on a bright sunny day is the dark, heavy shadows formed under the nose and eyes of the model. The only thing that can make these shadows less noticeable is brightening the face with a flash. Experiment with the settings; decreasing or increasing the flash compensation will make the shadows look more natural.

Fill flash will make the background darker, adding extra contrast to the photo.

Use a reflector

In addition to flash, using a reflector will help smooth out shadows on the model's face. It should be placed at the bottom so that the rays of reflected light highlight the chin, areas under the nose and under the eyes. Fortunately, now there are a huge variety of compact reflectors that are convenient to carry with you.

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

The question seems meaningless, but when it comes to practice, it turns out that 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, i.e. serves as an additional light source in poor lighting - 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 be used too. As they say, there is never too much good light.

So during the day a flash is needed as soften shadows away from the sun or other strong and harsh light sources. Flash is mostly used 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.

Suppressing shadows on people's faces in high-speed sync mode

True, there are some restrictions on working with flash during the day. For photographing portraits, it is recommended to use fast prime lenses. For example, a lens with an F2.8 aperture and ISO set to 200 will require about 1/2000s-1/4000s on a sunny day. But there is flash sync concept with the camera shutter and often this synchronization rests on a certain limit. Basically, built-in flashes can work with shutter speeds no shorter 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, these are too long to photograph in daylight. But even if you have one, you can take photographs at shorter shutter speeds only if your camera allows it.

Attention: Not a single built-in flash on any central control system can work normally with shutter speeds shorter than 1/500s. The built-in flash of any central control unit does not have a fast sync mode.

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

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

In order to be able to use flash with very short shutter speeds, it was created 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 flashes and synchronize them with shutter speeds up to 1/8000s.

To be able to use this mode- need to:

For the camera to support fast sync mode
For the flash to support fast sync mode

Not all cameras can use this mode - these mainly include advanced ones amateur cameras and all full frame digital SLRs.

Here's the exact one list of Nikon central control units that support the mode FP:

Flash during the day. Shot with flash in FP mode, positioned at the top left of the model to create the desired lighting.

As you can see, the choice among Nikon cameras small. Younger cameras do not have this mode, which will not allow you to take photographs with a flash and a small one. But this is not a problem, since you can use neutral density 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 high-key portrait.

Not all flashes support this mode– small external flash units SB-300 cannot work in this mode. Nikon and SB-5000 work without problems with FP mode. These flashes can operate at shutter speeds up to 1/8000. Many third-party flashes also support FP mode, but it is often called something else, for example the flash has an HSS mode, which is exactly the same as FP mode.

When photographing during the day with flash, you need to remember that short and bright lighting requires a lot of energy from the flash. It's funny, but the flash in high-speed sync mode recharges faster than in normal mode, this is due to the unusual flash system in FP mode.

Portrait during the day. The flash sometimes produces extra highlights and can itself produce extra shadows.

If you have an advanced camera with fast sync mode, then most likely there is a built-in flash. This will allow you to use your external flash in remote control mode using the . 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 photographs with a flash against the sun to understand how effective the flash is in the daytime. For example, in the photo below, the girl is illuminated by backlight (strong side light), if I had not used the flash, I would have gotten dark face. With the flash it turned out completely differently. However, using a flash on a camera can lead to loss of volume in a photograph.

Flash during the day in strong side light of the sun.

Whether it is worth using light diffusers for the flash or reflector cards - you need to look at the circumstances. As practice shows, sometimes it is very effective head-on flash in daylight, which is unacceptable when photographing people, for example, at night. When using a diffuser, the guide number of the flash is lost, which, even with fast synchronization, is less than usual. 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 at the same time the distance from which the flash can illuminate the subject is reduced. You can read how to increase the range of the flash in the section.

High speed synchronization. The flash highlighted the subject and added contrast.

Conclusions:

The flash during the day is the same useful thing, like 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 fast synchronization mode between the flash and the camera.

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

The advice to only photograph during golden hour is one of the most harmful pieces of advice a newbie photographer can receive.

Soft lighting, dim light and light shadows. A complete photographer's dream.

Many people take it too directly, refusing to take photographs in the middle of the day in bright sunshine.

This refusal is greatly facilitated by the abundance of colorful photographs of any genre, taken at sunrise or sunset.

But are photos taken in bright sun really that bad?

Of course no.

You can take great daytime photos because of two things:

To the bright light
Hard contrasting shadows

The very thing that everyone avoids, preferring to photograph during restricted hours, can provide many good shots.

It’s enough just not to try to take a photo as if in normal lighting, but to take into account the nature of daylight.

This photo was taken on a clear June day around two o'clock in the afternoon. By the shadows on the buildings you can imagine at what angle the sun was.

Is this a bad photo? Don't think.

Of course, there was a little editing involved. But without a good source code there would be nothing to process.

Two conditions

To shoot in the sun, two conditions must be met:

Shooting is carried out in RAW format
The scene being filmed is exposed without loss of shadows and highlights

Taking a frame on a bright day that would fit within the dynamic range of the camera and would not have flare is quite difficult.

Try not to shoot with the sun shining directly into the lens. I prefer to shoot with the sun behind me or to the side.

To prevent flare and ghosting, use a lens hood.

A properly exposed frame shot in Raw format will provide the greatest opportunities for subsequent editing. When you can soften hard shadows without fear of reducing contrast.

About portraits

I've come across the statement that photographing landscapes or architecture in bright sunshine is one thing. Shooting portraits is impossible in principle.

My attempts to explain that it is not a matter of the genre of photography, but an understanding of light, usually did not lead to success.

Therefore, I turned to the works of Caravaggio (wiki), whose authority no one dared to challenge.

Look how hard the shadows and high contrast are in the painting “Saint Jerome” by Caravaggio. How color saturation changes from light to dark areas.

Shadows suggest that the light is coming from above at a large angle to the horizon. This is indirectly confirmed by the legend that Caravaggio wrote using light from the round window in the roof of his workshop.

We must admit the sad fact that many photographers simply do not know how to work with lighting if it differs from a couple of common lighting schemes.

To successfully shoot in bright sun, you need to realize that daylight can't be bad.

He's just different.

This is the most important thing you should understand from this article.