Tips for Shooting Photos in Full Sun

With graduation parties, end of school celebrations, and those first few beach days filling up the month of June, you’ll be spending a lot of time outdoors taking pictures. Today I’m going to give you some tips on how to shoot photos in full sun. You can’t always time a photo op so you want to know how to make the most of the light you have.

Find some open shade. You’d think a bright, sunny day would be a photographer’s dream, but all light is NOT created equal. Sunshine in the middle of the day is super harsh and creates ugly shadows. Here’s a quick shot of my niece standing in full sun. Notice how her eyes are super dark and lifeless?

To get a better shot, I moved her under an awning. Look at the difference! She’s got beautiful catchlights and the light is much more even.

You can find open shade in a bunch of different places. Duck under a tree, a gazebo, an alley, a porch, your garage, etc. The key with shade is to have your subject stand just on the edge so that their face is evenly lit and looking out towards the open sky.

Create your own shade. Use a fun prop like an umbrella or a hat. This shot was taken a little while after my daughter got out of school. I wanted to take a few quick shots before we headed to a Taylor Swift concert and it was still very bright. We grabbed a pair of sunglasses and used them to shade her eyes. I also changed my perspective and photographed her from the side instead of straight on so that the sun hit the side of her face.

Shoot with the sun behind your subject. This way you don’t get squinty eyes and harsh shadows. Ideally, shooting backlit works best when the sun is low in the sky, but you can make it work midday as well.

You can also use this method indoors. This shot was taken at about 11:00 and the sun was streaming in from the window behind her. I was able to get some sun flare even though we were indoors!

Look for natural reflectors. Sand, cement, water, a white wall. All of these things are natural reflectors that will help to bounce light back up into your subject’s face when the sun is behind them. This isn’t the best example because it was kind of cloudy, but even on an overcast day it helps to have a little extra light filling in the shadows.

Take advantage of bold color and contrast. Not every photo has to have a smiling face in it. Be an observer. Capture moments and don’t worry about shadows. Or find an interesting way to incorporate them.

A few tips about sun flare. 

Sun flare used to be considered a flaw in photography. Now, it’s become super popular in creating soft, dreamy images. This is fun to practice and you can get some really interesting results. The best time of day to catch flare is when the sun is really low in the sky, about 2 hours before sunset. It’s not a good idea to shoot directly into the sun so what you have to do is put something in between you ~ a building, a person, any object that will obstruct part of the sun so you only see some of it. Put your camera on Aperture Priority and choose a small aperture (large number). Again, make sure there is something in between you and the direct sun. Keep your ISO low, like 100. When you start shooting, move around your subject to get the look that you are desiring. Try shooting down low. Switch up your angles. Your camera can sometimes have trouble focusing with all that light coming in so pick a point with a lot of contrast.