30 Days of Photography Tips… Day 26

DAY #26!

TIP #26: Try backlight – shoot into the sun. But use something to diffuse the light a bit so it’s not so harsh.

I love beautiful light. Beautiful sunlight is the best… so amazing. I often like to use the sun as a backlight, lighting up the back of my subjects rather than pointing as a spotlight onto the front of them. But the sunlight can be so harsh at times. So try using something to block or diffuse the sunlight a bit, to soften it. Otherwise you will either get an image that is completely blown out and overexposed, or way too hazy, or have too much lens flare in it. Look at some of these images below for some practical examples.

In this first image below I am using the mom and part of the tree to block the strongest part of the sun and to soften or diffuse the sunlight.
My manual settings were:  500, F 4, 1/160

In this image of the two little girls below the sunlight is in the top left corner of the frame but not fully coming through, just enough. And it is being diffused by some tree branches.

My manual settings: 200, F 4, 1/160

In this image below of the boy on his own the sun is not really directly in the frame at all but just a tiny bit. There is a tree behind him near the strongest point of the sun that is helping me and my camera angle keeps the lighting quite soft.

My manual settings: 250, F 3.5, 1/250

This image of the two boys and the bridge below has the sun coming through but quite soft because there are so many trees and branches in it’s way. This light is very diffused and can’t be too strong or direct.

My manual settings: 640, F 4, 1/250