Shooting Against the Sun

Firstly I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year and that I hope all your holidays were brilliant! I have been absent on posting blogs as I have been very consumed with time, anyway…

When I began doing photography almost 12 years ago, I wasn’t aware of shadows and light and how much they affect the images. It took me many years to figure it out, maybe moreso as I went to university and I realised that the sun is quite hard light. It gives harsh shadows on most occasions and can make for a difficult photograph if you don’t want to show off every wrinkle, crinkle, and detail in the skin, as well as this, it can make it quite difficult to balance the highlights and the shadows and on many occasions difficult to ‘meet down the middle’.

I came to the conclusion if the sun is out, I’m going to shoot away from the sun, I found this would often make my subjects face and details stand out more as my camera was able to focus on a single light subject and I wasn’t losing quality as much. Images weren’t coming out neither over exposed or under exposed as I wasn’t shooting in pitch black, just the right amount of light.

As time went on and the more I became familiar with light and shadows and as I began going for my walks when I was losing weight I quickly fell in love with sunsets, also known as the golden hour. On a clear day the sky lights up all sorts of colours, blues, oranges, purples, pinks and so on. I never really took much note of it until recently to take pictures of my subjects around the same time. The only issue is, you have to be quick.

I’ve found, shooting with the sun in the background it gives the image a lot of elements. You have the sun and the colours of the scenery, then you have your main subject with a golden glow around the edge of them and it makes a very easy balanced photograph, just like the images of my Marley, below:

I’ve found this sort of composition gives the image a nice finish. The images of Marley were taken during the last half hour of sunlight in the Winter sun, and when it began to go down, it went down very quickly. Having it in the horizon makes for a more exciting picture and more going on.

But then, you can also shoot agains daylight sun or low sun, such as some of the horse shoots below taken at 10am in the morning. The sun was still relatively low, however it made for gorgeous scenery on a clear day as I figured ways of working around it, using a simple light theory. When taking images usually of a subject you don’t want that sun to be in the way, but when used correctly you can create a gorgeous, unique hue and glow and haze that’s makes an image go from just a picture to a piece of art - Such as the images I most recently took of Abi & Her Horse, Polo!

And of course, using the sun in this way can work brilliant on people too. Now I usually prefer shooting on overcast days just because I find that when I generally shoot on a sunny day, images are generally more softer as I’m spending more time finding a fair balance in my images.

However, when it comes to tender moments like Abi and her horsey or Marley on the evening, it works absolutely brilliant. Of course, as mentioned, it works brilliantly on people too. In November I was asked to be a wedding photographer, again, a nice, clear, sunny day made for gorgeous scenery like the one below, taken just over an hour before sunset. The sun was still quite high at this point but was quickly going down.

So the next time you think the sun is going to ruin your images because it’s too harsh or too bright, think… how can I work with this? Is there anywhere I can go that will make this worthwhile? How can I make the image look magical? Sometimes the sun can be your best friend!