HELP ----Shooting Pictures in bright sunlight

[JanB56]

Hi, I have a couple of questions regarding taking pictures in the middle of the day in very beautiful clear blue skys w/ ALOT of bright sunlite.
1. should I wait & take the pics mid morning or mid afternoon to late afternoon.
2. would it help to add a filter to the lens I'm using to help with filtering some of the strong sunlight, I've not bought any type of filters yet, & if you do recommend a filter, can you advise me on what kind to look @.
3. please tell me anything else I can do to avoid this problem, the photos turned out OK, but there were still a lot of them where the sun glare was all over my grandsons face or his girlfriends face, this doesn't make for a beautiful picture.

help !!

Thanks
JanB56

 

[goooner]

It would be helpful if you can post some examples of what you mean. You could probably reduce/eliminate the 'glare' you talk about by slightly adjusting your positioning. Shooting in the 'golden' hours (early morning/late afternoon), normally does create better results, but this is often not very practical.

 

[Dao]

Can you explain a little more about glare on the face? Or post a photo example may also help us understand. If you mean harsh shadow, then looking for a different location, take the photo in different time may help. It depends on the type of shots, I'd taken photo of my daughter (upper body shot) around noon time with the help of a large round white diffusion panel.

 

[Designer]

1. should I wait & take the pics mid morning or mid afternoon to late afternoon.
2. would it help to add a filter to the lens I'm using to help with filtering some of the strong sunlight, I've not bought any type of filters yet, & if you do recommend a filter, can you advise me on what kind to look @.
3. please tell me anything else I can do to avoid this problem, the photos turned out OK, but there were still a lot of them where the sun glare was all over my grandsons face or his girlfriends face, this doesn't make for a beautiful picture.

1. Two problems with bright midday sunlight; the brightness and the direction of the light. Either try to position your subjects in open shade, or wait for the sun to be lower in the sky. So yes, later (or earlier) would be better, and there is something magical about the color and direction of the light that is coming from substantially LOWER than mid-morning or mid-afternoon. Even mid-morning and mid-afternoon will still have harsh light.

2. No. Filters on the lens will not change the unflattering direction of light on your subject.

3. Use flash. The use of "fill" flash will help illuminate those dark shadows on people's faces; in the eye sockets and under the chin and nose. Learn to use flash in the daytime and your photos will be vastly improved.

 

[Braineack]

what are you shooting?

 

[soufiej]

Hi, I have a couple of questions regarding taking pictures in the middle of the day in very beautiful clear blue skys w/ ALOT of bright sunlite.
1. should I wait & take the pics mid morning or mid afternoon to late afternoon.
2. would it help to add a filter to the lens I'm using to help with filtering some of the strong sunlight, I've not bought any type of filters yet, & if you do recommend a filter, can you advise me on what kind to look @.
3. please tell me anything else I can do to avoid this problem, the photos turned out OK, but there were still a lot of them where the sun glare was all over my grandsons face or his girlfriends face, this doesn't make for a beautiful picture.

help !!

Thanks
JanB56

1) Of course, waiting for "the golden hours" will be preferable. That's why they're called "the golden hours".

2) You could add a ND (neutral density) filter but all that will do is allow less light into the lens at an equal amount for all colors. Doing so would increase your shutter speed (given identical aperture and ISO values) which would then risk either camera shake or subject movement or both. Therefore, any filter is really discouraged in most situations. (There are a few technical issues of lens and aperture value [or even the sensor size for your specific camera] but they are somewhat more advanced than I suspect you are dealing with.)

3) In most cases, you have the ability to control the location and the framing of the shot.

There is no one, single answer to your issue in any case.

The "art" of photography IMO is the development of the photographer and their skills/knowledge to the point they remain flexible under various conditions for each shot.

Just as a sculptor learns their tools and their materials, so too does the successful photographer learn their tools and the materials at their disposal. Your primary tools of photography are the intelligent use and manipulation of light and shadow.

It is this ability to select and accurately assess the scene, check the equipment, pose the subject or alter the angle from which the shot will be taken and place all of this "data" into a workable whole to create a satisfactory result which separates the casual snapshot from the endearing photograph.

The first work around in your situation is to relocate the subject to a location which has less potential for glare. Light shade from a tree is usable though this approach may require the use of the aforementioned "fill flash" to create an evenly balanced shot. How to properly utilize fill flash is another thread.

You can turn your subject away from the direct sun which will result in a reduction of strong light being cast directly on the subject's face. This may also result in the need for fill flash or possibly a more discrete metering of the scene.

Spot metering the subject's face will create the most pleasant exposure value for the subject while possibly blowing out a brightly lit background. This is a subjective decision on your part and comes down to an either/or choice. Either you accept glare on the subject's face or you accept the blown out backgrounds for the sake of proper exposure values on the subject's face.

In any case, most digital cameras allow the photographer the luxury of checking a "histogram" of the scene (as metered by the camera) prior to taking the shot. Check your camera's owner's manual for information regarding access to the histogram.

If your camera provides a histogram prior to the shot, learn how to use it; how to use a histogram - Google Search

This is probably the single most informative feature of your camera. By reading the information provided by the camera prior to taking the shot you will be able to better decide how to arrange your shot. When highlights are "blown out", the details of the shot are "clipped" which results in distortions you are referring to as "glare".

How you rearrange your shot according to the histogram's data has no one, single answer either. You must act as the intelligent and "experienced" photographer to best decide how to resolve issues of distortion. In general, the best answer to distortions will always be to turn down the levels. How exactly you do that with any one shot is what you must learn as a photographer and not just as someone with a camera.

You might, say, change an exposure value.

Or you might change the ISO or shutter speed.

In some cases you might alter the metering system your camera is relying on to create the histogram.

All of these are potential solutions to your problem of distortions. You must learn to understand what the camera is telling you and then act accordingly.

What you see in the histogram will inform you off your options. Learning to read and correct your shot according to this data is part of the process of becoming a better than average photographer.

So there is no magic bullet, there is only a learning process. How you learn is also another thread.

From the above you should begin to understand why shooting during the extremely bright, glaring light of high, midday sun is low on your options list as a photographer with control over the situation.

If you lack control of the situation, then you must learn how to make the most of what you have selected.

If you can wait until those golden hours, many of your problems will be resolved on their own. Other problems may arise but they too are another thread.



If you are shooting in Jpeg mode (check your camera's shot data), you risk the issue of in-camera processing creating blown out colors. The fairly well known "Nikon-look" or "Canon-look" is the result of the processing which occurs within the camera's electronics. Once again, depending upon your specific camera, you can control the amount of color enhancement performed by the camera's electronics when working in Jpeg mode. Check your owner's manual for instructions pertaining to creating your own customized processing options.

Shooting (only) in RAW capture means you are minimizing the in camera processing of the image data. "RAW" also allows you more latitude to process the image to your taste as you work at your computer to prepare the shot for printing.

Jpeg's are good for a quick shot that will, say, be sent on social media. The quality of the shot is less important than the speed with which the system processes the data. Fine, just realize you are once again in an either/or situation.

Shooting in RAW is the superior option if image quality is the prime goal.

If your camera lacks the ability to use RAW data, then you must learn how best to manipulate your camera to your advantage.

I see you are relatively new to the forum. If any of the above does not make sense to you, please ask for further clarification.

 

[KmH]

3. Use a scrim or diffuser to make a bit of open shade that falls on your subject. A reflector can be used for fill light.
You might want to use both a scrim and a reflector on opposite sides of your subject.

It's all about using the appropriate tools to manage/control the light.

 

[soufiej]

3. Use a scrim or diffuser to make a bit of open shade that falls on your subject. A reflector can be used for fill light.
You might want to use both a scrim and a reflector on opposite sides of your subject.

It's all about using the appropriate tools to manage/control the light.

No doubt, it helps to have two assistants on hand at all times ... and a bag full of accessories.

 

[TCampbell]

To fix the light, you really want to use either reflectors (white & silver are usually preferred to the "gold" variety. Gold is good for trying to enhance a suntan, but for most subjects, you want something color neutral (white or silver)) -or- fill flash.

To use fill-flash, you'll probably need an external flash (not the pop-up flash on your camera because it's not very strong and your subject would really need to be quite close to the camera for that to work.) I prefer to dial the flash exposure compensation (FEC) down to about -1 (you can play with the setting but I find the best results tend to come somewhere between -2/3 to -1 1/3. Flash Exposure Compensation (FEC) tells the flash to fire at a weaker or stronger (depending on whether you dial negative or positive compensation) then the camera would normally have used per it's calculation. The reason I dial it back is because i don't want the flash to eliminate the shadows entirely... I just want to reduce the harshness of the shadows so they aren't so dark. Using FEC implies that you have some type of TTL for the flight (Nikon iTTL or Canon E-TTL). If you have "manual" flash, just dial down the power. High-end light meters can actually calculate something called "flash contribution" (percentage of light being provided by flash vs. percentage of light being provided by ambient light sources.) I'm not aware of any camera light meter can do this... but usually a flash contribution of around 30% works out rather well (that equates to roughly -1 FEC.) If you don't have a meter that can do this (hard-core pros probably do... most others probably do not) then you'll just need to back off the power on a manual flash until you are happy with the lighting.

The tricky bit about flash (and this is where filters come in) is that when you use a flash, the camera's shutter speed maxes out at the flash-sync-speed for your camera (depending on the camera body that could be anywhere between 1/160th to 1/250th (that's the range for more modern DSLR cameras.) This is because the shutter on your camera slides open and then slides shut and high shutter speeds are created by having the first shutter door start to slide open WHILE the second door is chasing the first... sliding shut. It exposes a tiny slit of light which sweeps across the sensor. If the flash fires on such a high speed shot then only the part of the sensor exposed by that slit gets the benefit of light and the rest is too dark. So the "flash sync speed" is the fastest shutter speed you can get away with in which the entire sensor is exposed to allow the flash to fire ... and then close again.

This means that in full sun, the Sunny 16 rule applies at which you can shoot at f/16 with the shutter speed being the inverse of the ISO setting. At a minimum ISO of, say, ISO 100, that means 1/100th sec. The "problem" here is that you're at f/16 and if you wanted a blurred background, you'd like to shoot at a lower f-stop.

So now you open the f-stop to f/11 and that lets you increase your shutter speed to 1/200th... but that's it. You can't open the aperture anymore because you'd need to speed up the shutter faster than 1/200th and that's faster than your flash can handle. Ideally perhaps you want f/4 or f/2.8. But that's 3-4 stops faster than your flash can handle.

Some flashes support a mode called "High Speed Sync" (or HSS). If your flash has this feature, then you can enable this mode. This causes the flash to strobe rapidly as the shutter sweeps across at the much faster shutter speeds. But since the flash has to pulse multiple times to pull this off, it can't fire at full power. It has to reserve enough power to make sure it can pulse with an even amount of light through the entire exposure. Powerful flashes help in this situation (and often you can cluster flashes so they share the workload.)

Up to this point you wouldn't need filters, but suppose you don't have flash that supports HSS (or your flash isn't powerful enough for what you want to do). You can use neutral density filters. If I use 4 stops worth of ND filters I can shoot at f/2.8 AND use flash to even out the light. I could also use a 3-stop ND filter and then add a circular polarizing filter and get a similar effect. And since I have a circular polarizer (CPL) I can tune the CPL to cut reflections and green up the foliage, etc.

If you do use filters you ESPECIALLY need to make sure sunlight cannot shine directly on the filter surface (which can cause unpleasant flares, ghosting, and other undesirable effects.) But sometimes it's difficult to have the filters AND also have a lens hood attached. Just hold something above the lens to block the sunlight from being able to shine directly on the front of the lens.

 

[Derrel]

Shoot back-lighted or side-lighted shots, and try and work in an area where there is some naturally-occurring fill-in light to give the shadowed side of the faces some relief. Shooting back-lighted or side-lighted keeps the people from squinting so much.

In really BRIGHT, brilliant sunshine is where the majority of outdoor swimwear catalog photos are made, on beaches that have loads of sand that provides general fill-light, which is almost always enhanced by at least one large reflector for localized, more-direct bounced light for fill, and then very often the sunlight is diffused by an overhead scrim (a diffusing panel).

One area that has a good deal of naturally-occurring fill is close to the side of a large building; something the size of a house is enough. An office building or a hotel building? It can act as a massive,massive reflector. The same thing can occur on beaches, very close to shoreline bluffs or cliffs, especially if they are light sandstone or limestone or some other type of fairly light earthen material.

During the day, when the sun is at a high angle, such as at 11 AM or at 1 or 2 or 3 PM, the sun functions a lot like a high, downward-angled parabolic reflector; it's a lot like a studio light, with a strong shadow that will be cast by the nose and chin; with very careful positioning of the person's face and body, this type of crisp, hard-shadowing, high sunlight can be used, but again, the person must be positioned "just so" and it's fairly hard lighting and rather dramatic.

For one guy, shooting alone, without a lot of equipment needed, the EASIEST thing to do is to go out in bright sunshine times, and move in to a place like the end of an alleyway, or under an awning, or right out to the very edge of a shadow line--so you are CLOSE TO BUT NOT actually IN direct sun-light, but are instead working in much softer, gentler SKY-light.

This is open shade lighting, and yet, it has an actual direction--which is the key! Soft light, but with an actual direction!. I think this is the EASIEST way to work during the bright hours...at the edges of the shadows from say, oak trees, or the edge of a shadow line near an ocean bluff and the beach, there is a gloriously lighted little area, where the light is just right, and where the subject's eyeballs will pick up a lovely, large, broad catchlight from the sky's light; because the subject is in shade, and that's apprx. six f/stops darker than the sun-light value, the catchlights will be very well-exposed and bright when the exposure for the face is set properly. Take a close-up meter reading of the subject's face, and use that as the exposure value baseline.

 

[JanB56]

I would like to Thank everyone for your help & input. I will definitely take everything into consideration. That is why I post my questions, because I am a newbie & working towards becoming a better photographer. Thank you so much again

 

[JanB56]

It would be helpful if you can post some examples of what you mean. You could probably reduce/eliminate the 'glare' you talk about by slightly adjusting your positioning. Shooting in the 'golden' hours (early morning/late afternoon), normally does create better results, but this is often not very practical.

I have tried to upload a copy of one of the pictures, something happened when I downloaded them from my camera to my computer, I shot with the option of both jpeg/ raw, I can actually see both copies on my computer, but when I click to upload a raw version of the picture, it is missing. not sure what happened, this has never happened to me before. I knew about the golden hours (early morn/ later afternoon) I prefer these times, unfortunately they were anxious to get these pictures done, so I agreed to do it middle of the day, I do feel I would have had better turn out of clarity of the pictures & much less glare. Thank you for your response & help

 

[JanB56]

It would be helpful if you can post some examples of what you mean. You could probably reduce/eliminate the 'glare' you talk about by slightly adjusting your positioning. Shooting in the 'golden' hours (early morning/late afternoon), normally does create better results, but this is often not very practical.

Thank you , I have tried to upload one of the raw pictures, I chose the jpeg/raw on my Nikon, because I wanted to have both, while downloading them, something happened, I can see them on my computer , but It will not allow me to upload the raw version. if I get this figured out, I will upload an example & you will see what I was referring to.

 

[Designer]

I have tried to upload one of the raw pictures,.

Unfortunately, this website does not support RAW files. You can upload the JPEG version, or provide a link to the RAW, or simply e-mail the RAW to someone who might be asking for it. You will have to get that member's e-mail to send it.

Anyway, to upload the JPEG files, you should downsize them to no larger than 1024 pixels on the longest side. Then they will upload in a jiffy.

The NEF. files that you have will help you with editing when you do it.

Oh, where were we? Oh, yeah, showing a sample photograph.

If you can schedule a re-shoot right away, just do that, and try using "fill" flash. Do you own a speedlight? If not, your built-in flash might not have enough power to balance the strong sunlight.

 

[JanB56]

Hi, I have a couple of questions regarding taking pictures in the middle of the day in very beautiful clear blue skys w/ ALOT of bright sunlite.
1. should I wait & take the pics mid morning or mid afternoon to late afternoon.
2. would it help to add a filter to the lens I'm using to help with filtering some of the strong sunlight, I've not bought any type of filters yet, & if you do recommend a filter, can you advise me on what kind to look @.
3. please tell me anything else I can do to avoid this problem, the photos turned out OK, but there were still a lot of them where the sun glare was all over my grandsons face or his girlfriends face, this doesn't make for a beautiful picture.

help !!

Thanks
JanB56

1) Of course, waiting for "the golden hours" will be preferable. That's why they're called "the golden hours".

2) You could add a ND (neutral density) filter but all that will do is allow less light into the lens at an equal amount for all colors. Doing so would increase your shutter speed (given identical aperture and ISO values) which would then risk either camera shake or subject movement or both. Therefore, any filter is really discouraged in most situations. (There are a few technical issues of lens and aperture value [or even the sensor size for your specific camera] but they are somewhat more advanced than I suspect you are dealing with.)

3) In most cases, you have the ability to control the location and the framing of the shot.

There is no one, single answer to your issue in any case.

The "art" of photography IMO is the development of the photographer and their skills/knowledge to the point they remain flexible under various conditions for each shot.

Just as a sculptor learns their tools and their materials, so too does the successful photographer learn their tools and the materials at their disposal. Your primary tools of photography are the intelligent use and manipulation of light and shadow.

It is this ability to select and accurately assess the scene, check the equipment, pose the subject or alter the angle from which the shot will be taken and place all of this "data" into a workable whole to create a satisfactory result which separates the casual snapshot from the endearing photograph.

The first work around in your situation is to relocate the subject to a location which has less potential for glare. Light shade from a tree is usable though this approach may require the use of the aforementioned "fill flash" to create an evenly balanced shot. How to properly utilize fill flash is another thread.

You can turn your subject away from the direct sun which will result in a reduction of strong light being cast directly on the subject's face. This may also result in the need for fill flash or possibly a more discrete metering of the scene.

Spot metering the subject's face will create the most pleasant exposure value for the subject while possibly blowing out a brightly lit background. This is a subjective decision on your part and comes down to an either/or choice. Either you accept glare on the subject's face or you accept the blown out backgrounds for the sake of proper exposure values on the subject's face.

In any case, most digital cameras allow the photographer the luxury of checking a "histogram" of the scene (as metered by the camera) prior to taking the shot. Check your camera's owner's manual for information regarding access to the histogram.

If your camera provides a histogram prior to the shot, learn how to use it; how to use a histogram - Google Search

This is probably the single most informative feature of your camera. By reading the information provided by the camera prior to taking the shot you will be able to better decide how to arrange your shot. When highlights are "blown out", the details of the shot are "clipped" which results in distortions you are referring to as "glare".

How you rearrange your shot according to the histogram's data has no one, single answer either. You must act as the intelligent and "experienced" photographer to best decide how to resolve issues of distortion. In general, the best answer to distortions will always be to turn down the levels. How exactly you do that with any one shot is what you must learn as a photographer and not just as someone with a camera.

You might, say, change an exposure value.

Or you might change the ISO or shutter speed.

In some cases you might alter the metering system your camera is relying on to create the histogram.

All of these are potential solutions to your problem of distortions. You must learn to understand what the camera is telling you and then act accordingly.

What you see in the histogram will inform you off your options. Learning to read and correct your shot according to this data is part of the process of becoming a better than average photographer.

So there is no magic bullet, there is only a learning process. How you learn is also another thread.

From the above you should begin to understand why shooting during the extremely bright, glaring light of high, midday sun is low on your options list as a photographer with control over the situation.

If you lack control of the situation, then you must learn how to make the most of what you have selected.

If you can wait until those golden hours, many of your problems will be resolved on their own. Other problems may arise but they too are another thread.



If you are shooting in Jpeg mode (check your camera's shot data), you risk the issue of in-camera processing creating blown out colors. The fairly well known "Nikon-look" or "Canon-look" is the result of the processing which occurs within the camera's electronics. Once again, depending upon your specific camera, you can control the amount of color enhancement performed by the camera's electronics when working in Jpeg mode. Check your owner's manual for instructions pertaining to creating your own customized processing options.

Shooting (only) in RAW capture means you are minimizing the in camera processing of the image data. "RAW" also allows you more latitude to process the image to your taste as you work at your computer to prepare the shot for printing.

Jpeg's are good for a quick shot that will, say, be sent on social media. The quality of the shot is less important than the speed with which the system processes the data. Fine, just realize you are once again in an either/or situation.

Shooting in RAW is the superior option if image quality is the prime goal.

If your camera lacks the ability to use RAW data, then you must learn how best to manipulate your camera to your advantage.

I see you are relatively new to the forum. If any of the above does not make sense to you, please ask for further clarification.

I have tried to upload one of the raw pictures,.

Unfortunately, this website does not support RAW files. You can upload the JPEG version, or provide a link to the RAW, or simply e-mail the RAW to someone who might be asking for it. You will have to get that member's e-mail to send it.

Anyway, to upload the JPEG files, you should downsize them to no larger than 1024 pixels on the longest side. Then they will upload in a jiffy.

The NEF. files that you have will help you with editing when you do it.

Oh, where were we? Oh, yeah, showing a sample photograph.

If you can schedule a re-shoot right away, just do that, and try using "fill" flash. Do you own a speedlight? If not, your built-in flash might not have enough power to balance the strong sunlight.

Thank you so much for your input & help