Weekly challenge - strategies for “harsh” light

[johngpt]

I guess my main strategy for dealing with hard, mid day light is to restrict my view as I look for repetitive shapes and bold shadows.






Infrared allows me to increase the time of day at which I can shoot, but I still prefer it close to golden hours.


And last, when needing to create an image mid day but wanting to avoid harsh light and shadow, there is the tried and true technique of bringing your subject into shade.


Thank you Sharon (SquarePeg) for an interesting challenge that fortunately lends itself nicely to those of us living here in the US southwest! There might not be a day in a week if the challenge was to shoot in gray or flat light!

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[Soocom1]

And this technique is sort of a cop-out, but none the less a technique for mid day.
Drag your subject into the shade!
My understanding is that portrait photographers who have the poor luck to be shooting at mid day will have their subjects move into shade. It might be under a tree. It might be in into the shade of a building.
Not having a human subject I lucked out at the Albuquerque Museum's sculpture garden with this figure in the shade.


in the shade

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Did you get the old man in the bench?


Personally I love to shoot the San Felipe de Neri myself.

The steeples are fun to shoot with afternoon lighting and impossible without large floods to counter the shadows.

But makes a great harsh shadow effect.

 

[johngpt]

Hmm, I wonder why two of the small size images aren't showing in my post?
They both show in the preview when I click on Edit.

 

[Soocom1]

Wish I had some of the petroglyph shots that I could post, but they are in storage.
THATS contrast!

 

[johngpt]

Did you get the old man in the bench?


Personally I love to shoot the San Felipe de Neri myself.

The steeples are fun to shoot with afternoon lighting and impossible without large floods to counter the shadows.

But makes a great harsh shadow effect.

I didn't get the old man this visit.
I've still got an infrared shot of San Felipe de Neri from last July that I really like but haven't yet posted to Flickr.
Perhaps I should today.

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[Soocom1]

Did you get the old man in the bench?


Personally I love to shoot the San Felipe de Neri myself.

The steeples are fun to shoot with afternoon lighting and impossible without large floods to counter the shadows.

But makes a great harsh shadow effect.

I didn't get the old man this visit.
I've still got an infrared shot of San Felipe de Neri from last July that I really like but haven't yet posted to Flickr.
Perhaps I should today.

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Me thinks so...
An IR of the Church is a neat idea.

I shot the church years ago with a Salyut Med. Format russian Brick once.
The view window on the back fogged the film, but it fogged it directly over the center of the cross.

Talk about divine humor!

 

[johngpt]

I shot the church years ago with a Salyut Med. Format russian Brick once.
The view window on the back fogged the film, but it fogged it directly over the center of the cross.

Talk about divine humor!

That I'd love to see.
I did upload my IR of de Neri, and while it was shot a year ago and not really within the brief of this week's challenge, here it is.

grounds at San Felipe de Neri

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[otherprof]

1. Photo of the Light
View attachment 174764

Outstanding catch and rendering 'otherprof.'

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Thank you!

 

[Soocom1]

I shot the church years ago with a Salyut Med. Format russian Brick once.
The view window on the back fogged the film, but it fogged it directly over the center of the cross.

Talk about divine humor!

That I'd love to see.
I did upload my IR of de Neri, and while it was shot a year ago and not really within the brief of this week's challenge, here it is.

grounds at San Felipe de Neri

.

Med. Format?

 

[Soocom1]

A shot inside a culvert, midday:

 

[Fred von den Berg]

Early morning in bright sunshine, sun over my shoulder, evaluative metering in P mode:

Cross Roads

Roadside Crucifix

 

[Fred von den Berg]

About half an hour later in a shady woods with strong light coming through, again with evaluative metering and P mode:

Dinghy 1

Dinghy 2

 

[Soocom1]

I like the crucifix.... The B&W really pops things out.

 

[Fred von den Berg]

I like the crucifix.... The B&W really pops things out.

Thanks, Soocom1. I wasn't sure about B&W for this, so the feedback is most welcome!

 

[Soocom1]

Well what is so cool is the virtual merging of the plate on the post to the tone of the road, almost making the shrine look like its floating.

Happy little mistakes.