A few tips for noon photography make you dare to "face the sun"

As we all know, choosing the right light when taking pictures is very important for good weather. People usually think that light looks best at dusk and in the morning. But as a professional photographer, you can't rely on sunlight to set off. If one day you're going out to take pictures at noon, I'm glad you saw this. Three tips teach you how to take pictures at noon.

Teach you to take pictures at noon

To deal with this problem, we must first understand the difference between noon and prime time: the sun in prime time is close to the horizontal plane, and at this time, the atmosphere through which the light passes is thicker, which absorbs a lot of blue light, making the emitted light soft and the color temperature warmer, and at the same time lengthening the shadow of the object, making the picture more stereoscopic and detailed.

At noon, the sun shines directly on the top of the head, and the "frank" angle and strong illumination are easy to cause gray images, explosion of pictures and lack of details, which is why noon has always been considered unsuitable for taking pictures. Today we will explain three methods and teach you how to overcome this thorny problem!

Noon photography

This picture of the rose was taken at noon. Although the light is strong and monotonous, the picture has enough details and layering, and the exposure is just right. PS: The pictures in the tutorial are all straight from the camera, so as to minimize the influence on the later photos.

Method 1: Look for shadows.

As the saying goes-"If you can't provoke, you can't afford to hide". The first step in shooting at noon is to find the shadow. Since we can't change the position of the sun, we should simply use the surrounding environment to block the sun. Whether it is a tree, a building or a wall, we can make good use of any props that can provide shadows. Shadow is the weakening and softening of light, which can make the light received by objects more uniform and make the picture less stiff.

Looking for shadows

It should be noted that when the hood is used as the hood, uneven light spots will fall on the subject, which is a kind of interference for portrait shooting.

There are three points to note when using shadows:

First, avoid underexposure. With the help of shadow, we don't mean to put the subject in the shadow completely, because insufficient light may lose the details of the picture. The best situation is to shoot at the edge of shadows and light, which can not only weaken the intensity of light but also ensure enough diffuse light;

Second, pay attention to the contrast between light and shade of the background. The simultaneous appearance of shadows and sunlight in a picture will lead to a strong contrast, especially at noon. If the light ratio exceeds the tolerance range of the camera, it will not be worth the candle. Therefore, when shooting, we should master the angle, control the position of the background and subject, and minimize the strong contrast;

Third, pay attention to the shape of the shadow. Different obstructions will have different shadows, such as spots of tree shadows, which are easy to cause dense texture, while large-area flaky shadows are easy to separate the picture. When shooting, you can try more shadows on the side, above and around until you find the effect that best suits the subject.

Pay attention to the shape of the shadow

It is best to use a large and uniform shadow, but the subject needs to be close to the edge of the shadow, otherwise there will be underexposure.

Uniform shadow effect

Another advantage of placing the subject on the edge of the shadow is that it can easily fill the light, and a small white foam core can fill the light in a large area from another angle.

Method 2: If there is no shadow, use a translucent baffle.

If there are no buildings around to provide shelter for you, you can also actively reduce the light-use a soft light board or other translucent objects (thin sheets can also be placed between the sun and the subject) to minimize the direct exposure of light to the object.

Although this shading method has no obvious effect, it can provide you with some opportunities to "breathe", weaken the light intensity of the subject, and also mean improving the softness of the overall exposure.

Translucent baffle

Left Tu Tu direct, the sun is too strong; On the right is a soft light plate to block the light, and the light is obviously much softer.

Avoid color cast

The closer the soft light plate is to the subject, the more obvious the shielding effect is. Even when shooting at noon, we can improve the details of the picture and avoid color cast under strong light.

Method 3: If there is no occlusion or shadow, then find the angle.

If there are no shadows nearby and there are no obstacles on your hands, you can only choose the right shooting angle. Here is a simple trick: let the subject turn his back to the sun. In this way, it can avoid the ugly shadows on the front of the subject after direct sunlight, such as the eye sockets and nose on the face when shooting portraits.

Our principles are always clear. Since we can't create shadows and weaken the direct sunlight, we should try our best to control the falling point and area of shadows. However, it should be noted that if the backlight angle is used, the background may explode under the condition of ensuring the correct exposure of the subject, but it doesn't matter, because the final benefit far exceeds the cost.

Looking for an angle

In the photo on the left, the flower faces the sun, and it can be clearly found that the flower loses its details under strong light, and the object deviates from its original color because of too strong light; Although the picture on the right is also directly unobstructed, the backlight angle is used, and the light and shade are more layered.

Light and shade grade

I'll teach you another trick. If you want the background and theme to be exposed normally, you need to reduce their light ratio. We can't adjust the background sky, but we can use a reflector to fill the front of the theme. When the brightness of the subject increases, the contrast between it and the background will decrease, and we can expose it correctly.

Theme positive fill light

The picture on the left shows the specific fill light operation. The subject has his back to the sun, and the reflector reflects the sunlight back to the front of the subject, making the subject bright. The picture on the right shows the film effect, which is slightly underexposed, ensuring the details of the flowers while retaining the blue sky.

Shooting at noon, in addition to shooting techniques, there are also some tips in the choice of equipment. First, choose a better lens. A better lens means better performance in sharpness, contrast, glare and edge control, and is a great weapon against strong light; Second, use a mirror with medium gray density, which is used to filter the light and reduce the light intensity.

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