Effectively Harness The Sun’s Light For Better Photos
When it comes to taking a great photo, artificial lighting can’t replicate what Mother Nature offers—if you know how to put the natural light to good use. Here’s how to turn your face towards the light properly.
Photo by jalalspages.
If you’ve already consulted the previously mentioned Golden Hour Calculator to find the best time of day to take pics but are looking for some more specific ideas for how to put that light to good use, photo tips weblog Digital Photography School offers three specific tips for strategically positioning your subject or yourself according to where the sun casts its rays. For example, if you’re dealing with light coming at you from the side, the post suggests the following:
Turn your subject so that only one shoulder is facing the light. Then turn their face 3/4 degrees into the light. This side angle will give you soft transfer edges between the highlights and shadows. This lighting will also add depth to your portrait. Shoot facing your subjects lit shoulder.
For the remaining front and back sun lit tips, check out the full link. If you’d like more ideas on how to foster the sun to secure a good shot, hit up our previous post on ways to create studio quality photos using the sun.
How to Use the Sun to Light Portraits [Digital Photography School]
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
A cheap set of reflectors (Gold for blondes, silver for brunettes...ahem) can do wonders...just beware the setup time and treat your schlep to lunch.
SigmundTheSeaMonster
@infinitemonkeys: Yeah, I agree about the wording, but there are helpful pictures in the article.
Kalgaroo
@infinitemonkeys: at least for "one shoulder facing the light" i think it means that the end should point towards the light source... and then you'd be facing almost towards that shoulder in the picture... at least that's what it looks like in the sample pictures in the link.
I'm sorry, my BS in Mathematics just exploded trying to decipher those directions.
One shoulder facing the light? The face of the shoulder would probably be considered the front. How can you have one face and not the other? Puff out the chest mightily? Are you perhaps meaning put both shoulders in line with the light? Then say that or stand them with left or right shoulder toward the sun.
Turn their face 3/4 degrees. 3/4 degrees? What coordinate system is that? Where is 3/4 degrees on my compass? 3/4 degree? That's too tiny to matter. 3/4 of X degrees where X is 90, 180, what?
Really these are perhaps the most poorly worded directions on Lifehacker since the early Samurize your Desktop instructions.
I recommend you check out both of these posts regarding shooting with natural light. Brandon and his guest posters are very knowledgeable and his posts are always helpful and insightful.
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