Comments on: Challenge Yourself: Shoot in Harsh Sunlight

By: Barbara

Barbara — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:56:52 +0000

Hi Brian - another great post, as everyone gets so hung up on the “magic hours”. I travel a lot, and often have to take pictures when I can - not at the perfect time. Not everything turns out perfect, but with digital I snap away like crazy hoping to get lucky.

I’ve found that converting to black and white is often the saving grace when I’m stuck in harsh sunlight. Often a picture I would have thrown away takes on a totally different vibe in black and white, and stays in my keepers folder instead of the trash

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[...] range because their ancient cameras can’t meter the scene correctly. Oh, but what about those really high contrast situations? Hey, silhouettes are always in [...]

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By: Susheel Chandradhas

Susheel Chandradhas — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:24:28 +0000

@the_wolf_brigade and @brian I finally get your little joke… Gosh, I’ve been out of the loop for a while! Just getting back in (hopefully).

By: Mandy

Mandy — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:33:34 +0000

I like shooting in harsh sunlight, it’s a challenge.

I live in the UK so when we get a sunny day which isn’t always very often with our summers, I’ve got to go out and take some photos!

I like your tip about black and white I hadn’t thought of that…

By: the_wolf_brigade

the_wolf_brigade — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 07:55:15 +0000

I took your advice!

http://flickr.com/photos/the_wolf_brigade/2649307260/

By: egm

egm — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 07:52:29 +0000

Good to know I’m not mad for wanting to photograph at all times of the day regardless of light quality! As you say, if I want a particular outcome that requires a particular light, then I will plan for that. But I won’t let that stop me from taking pictures at other times of the day.

By: Trevor Carpenter

Trevor Carpenter — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 03:27:35 +0000

Brian, this is a wonderful post! Posts like this are why I not only love photo-blogging, but this blog in particular!

By: Brian Auer

Brian Auer — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:44:22 +0000

@Dawn You’re absolutely right — lens flare can be really cool. It’s just hard to pull off, and more times than not it doesn’t look too good.

@Niels That’s a good point you make — these harshly lit conditions can give you the option of creating both high-key or low-key images depending on how you expose.

@Craig I agree… brains are a good thing. We should use them more often.

@Gregor I was actually thinking of you when I wrote this post. You are certainly a master of the shadows.

@Mark Nice catch on the ND filter! I hadn’t thought of that since I don’t have any. I guess my point was that you can’t shoot at f/1.4 unless you have something like an ND filter to block out some of that light. I think most situations (with newer cameras capable of 1/8000 shutter speeds or higher) would only require one or two stops of ND to get that lens opened up. I can usually shoot at f/2 or f/2.8 and still maintain most highlights.

@Mike Good point on those shadows. Then again, you could just take it as another challenge to find good shots while the sun is directly overhead.

@Dillon Yup, just get out there and see what you can do. It’s fine to plan certain shots for certain times of the day or “the right light”, but definitely don’t limit all of your shooting to those instances.

@Tim You’re absolutely right that recovering shadows can result is some really bad data (lots of noise and junk). But I guess when I say “expose for the highlights”, what I mean is don’t let the highlights get blown out. Once you overexpose the highlights (pure white pixels) or underexpose the shadows (pure black pixels) you can’t recover them no matter how hard you try. What I’m getting at is that if you have to choose one, let the shadows drop off the histogram. Why? Because blown highlights look like crap in comparison to underexposed shadows (unless you’re aiming for high-key stuff). The whites are more of an eyesore than the blacks. But maybe that’s just my personal preference.

@the_wolf_brigade I’m glad somebody saw the humor in it! I thought you might like those little stabs at digital. (not that I have anything against digital, of course)

By: the_wolf_brigade

the_wolf_brigade — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:52:51 +0000

This is by far the most entertaining post you’ve written! It made me laugh and just makes me want to get out and shoot - something I haven’t been able to do much recently.

Love the way you start out “If you’re on digital…” lol.