Simple Photography Tips - how to photograph into the sun

Six simple photography tips on using light and composition to photograph into the sun- Camera and Phone Camera

• Hide the sun itself

• Re-compose to avoid Flare

• Check the light, move the camera angle until the light is right

• Use the metering more effectively

• Put leaves or posts, trees in the way.

• if you're in the Antarctic Use a penguin to hide the sun

  
  

Ok, so I'm going to give some simple photography tips to enable you to get the best image you can. By thinking about that socking great light, known as the sun, and the effect it has on photographs.

Yes the sun is vital, without it there'd be no photographs. With it there's colour and huge mental benefit.

But, sometimes it's just too bright, takes a potentially wonderful photograph and burns it to pieces.

The other evening we were driving back across the downs near home, here in the UK.

Try to imagine the scene, and apply it to you in the future wherever you are on this wonderful planet. If you're in Antarctica, use a penguin instead of the oak tree I used.

As we came out of the woodland, heading North, the scene under the canopy of oak trees opened out to one looking across the chalk hills, and the dry valley between them and me .

Now your eye, linked to that clever bit of creation known as your brain, takes the scene and ignores all sorts of things that distract from the scene. But your camera, whether big proper one, or phone camera, doesn't do that, so you have to learn some 'techniques'.

Let's have a look at the images I took, and the progression to a 'better' picture.

Lens flare can be fun in places, but not here, it spoils the picture.

How to deal with Lens Flare is today's first Simple Photography Tip.

Image One, shows what's known as lens flare. I've mentioned it elsewhere, but it's the result of the sunlight being bent by the lens, and bouncing around inside and landing in 'the wrong place' on the sensor, or film.

Image One - Wiltshire Downland Scene with quite bad flare

In Image Two i've swayed my body slightly to the right. As you can see the flare is reduced, but not gone.

Image Two - Wiltshire Downland Scene with reduced flare

Image Three, is an interesting one, it shows how that a further movement, this time a slight repositioning (be aware of sneaky stinging nettles in this sort of place) of me and the camera, alters the scene slightly, opens up the scene to the left, and cuts out the flare almost completely.

Another aspect of this change is that saturation of colours across the valley has changed, and the effect of the 'Golden Hour' has taken over, giving a warmth to the image that we don't see in image two.

On a negative note, I had others in the car waiting for me, so was rushing to grab these images for this blog. The result is that the tree -trunk acts almost as a black distraction in the image.

Image Three - Wiltshire Downland Scene with little flare

I sort of recreated the composition of Image Two in Image Four, but without the flare, and much closer to the trunk. On reflection I'd have drawn back to let more scene on the right, and made the trunk less dominant.

The side lesson is, when the light is right, check the composition - bit like crossing the road, look left, look right, and look left again (or if you're in a different country it might be the opposite!).

Image Four - Wiltshire Downland Scene without flare

Image Five, shows a different technique to deal with our chum the sun.

I really wasn't happy with the tree trunk in the way, So applied what is today's second Simple Photography Tip on how to photograph into the sun.

Image Five - Wiltshire Downland Scene towards sunset

Rather than use the tree trunk to cut out the flare from the sun, I have used a much less hefty form of screening - a piece of branch, covered with leaves.

Again slight body movement can have a dramatic effect of how much light gets cut out.

Using either of these methods enables a much more balanced image, and pretty good exposure.

Images Six was taken the other side of the tree, so different scene and perhaps not quite as good compostion, but again using the leaves as a screen to prevent the sun messing everything up.

Image Six - Wiltshire Downland Scene with sun masked by leaves.

Image Seven, is how not to do it. I've metered for the centre of the scene, which is where the main source of light is. Thus the darker parts of the scene have got missed out.

Image Seven - Wiltshire Downland Scene with incorrect exposure resulting from sun dominating the scene

If you're using a camera with multi-point metering this will help to a degree, but weighted metering adjusted to the right area will probably be better.

If you want some simple photography tips on metering then have a read of https://www.michaelblyth.co.uk/post/simple-photography-tips-getting-better-exposure-on-photos-with-your-phone-camera

You might look at these images and wonder if it's worth the effort. I'd say yes, without hesitation. If you look at the cow parsley in the foreground, and the leaves on the oak tree hanging down, they are all back-lit, beautiful.

Have a go, I've taken many that are rubbish, but that's not applying what I'm teaching!