pretty afternoon light

Beautiful light coming through the trees. Ahhhh, one of my favorite things. :)

Let the bright light be behind your subject just make sure your subject’s face isn’t too washed out. See how his face is facing toward me. If his face was turned much to the left or right then part of his face would be way too bright and overexposed. I love how you can even see some of the rays of bright sunlight coming through the trees. I chose my settings based on the exposure of his face, not the bright light behind him.

Here are my manual settings for this shot:
ISO – 640 (lots of shady trees)
aperture – F 2.5
shutter – 1/160 second (wouldn’t want it much slower, the swing was moving)
lens – 50mm 1.2L (I typically just take one lens when I’m out hanging with the family)