Composing a Shot Outdoors
When composing a shot outdoors, remember to assess where the sun is, what distance you want to be from your subject, and how many objects you are focusing on.
Creating vivid shots with your back to the sun
With the sun to your back, your subject is lit from the front. Try to avoid making people stare into intense sun to prevent them from squinting. If possible, place objects in clutter-free backgrounds. Stay away from times when the sun is directly overhead, a time when the sun is so harsh it can overexpose parts of your image.
Facing the sun
Shooting into the sun is not always a bad thing. This technique can provide many opportunities for unique art photos. The effects you get shooting into the sun are just the opposite of shooting with the sun behind you. Subjects lose their colour. The more aligned your subjects are in front of the sun, the darker they are until they become total silhouettes when they block the sun. The light at sunset or sunrise is excellent for shooting beautiful silhouettes.
When your subject is in front of the sun, strong backlighting results in an exposure that leaves the subject underexposed. If your camera offers a choice of autoexposure metering modes, switch to center-weighted or spot metering mode. For a single subject, spot metering usually works best. But for a group of subjects or people, center-weighted metering may be a better option. Point the camera at the area you want the camera to consider for setting the exposure, press the shutter button halfway down, and then reframe the shot before taking the photo.
Avoiding and exploiting shadows
Obviously, shooting either with your back to the sun or facing the sun can cause unwanted shadows. Ironically, a built-in flash is most useful for shooting outdoors in daylight. Strong sun can produce shadows on a subject, and the small pop of light produced by a built-in flash is the perfect way to minimise those shadows.
You can use light and shadows at night to add depth to photographs. Many of the best architecture and landscape photographs are shot at dusk. The long shadows, soft light, and reflections can create dramatic results.
Shooting colours in the shade
Shade can present a challenge when trying to capture colour. Using a slower shutter speed solves some of the light problems that you may have with shade. Using a tripod will help to eliminate blur that tends to occur when you make a handheld exposure with a longer exposure time.
When taking a photo that includes areas both sunny and shady, you should consider using your camera’s spot metering mode. This enables you to designate which part of the image should be properly exposed. When shooting a subject in the shade with a bright background, you can also set your camera to fire the flash to illuminate the subject.
Shooting at noon, dusk, and dawn
The best times of day to take photos outdoors are in mid-morning and late afternoon. Because you can’t always have the sun exactly where you want it, you need to master how to shoot at the times of day when sunlight isn’t exactly optimal.
At noon, for example, light is very intense. Direct sunlight on an object distinguishes its colour, which produces a bold-coloured image. Photographing objects in direct sunlight brings out the colour. But, because the sun is directly overhead, you can get some unwanted shadows on people’s faces from a hat or their glasses.
Conversely, when shooting at dawn and dusk, light can sometimes throw off the colour you want. However, the softness during these times of day can create beautiful photos, especially with some clouds to help diffuse the fading daylight when shooting at sunset.