Here Comes The Sun

I avoid shooting in full sun like the plague.  But, there are times when you just can’t get around it.  For professional photographers it is important to educate your clients about the best times of day to shoot.  I won’t take on a shoot if the client can only do it midday because their pictures won’t look like the pictures in my portfolio and I don’t want anyone to be disappointed.  For weddings there may not be a way to get around shooting midday.  So, I’m always looking for open shade.  But, for everyday snapshots of your kids open shade may not be available and you probably can’t get them to stay in one place anyways.

When shooting in full sun I’m always looking at the shadows on my subjects face.  Typically I want the sun to be to their back (this will create less shadows).  And I always expose for the person rather than the background.  I don’t care if the background is totally blown out as long as the subject looks good.

These pictures I took of Brayden and Chuck at the beach were taken around 11:30am on a totally bright and sunny day.  I positioned myself so the sun was behind them and paid close attention to shadows on their faces.

Canon 5D, 50 1.2

f 2.8, 1/2500 ISO 125

f 2.8, 1/4000, ISO 125