Shooting full sun

[jinasealey]

I have been asked to shoot a family in Greenville tomorrow at noon. It's been very cold and overcast for days and I expected it to stay that way. But now the forecast says it will be cold, but full sun! She cannot do any later than noon.

So, can it be done at noon or is it not even worth trying?

[andyz]

Can you shoot in shade, natural or some that you create?

Also, think fill flash/reflector.

[Terry C]

The answer is yes - it can be done. First the sun isn't directly overhead at noon this time of year so you can backlight and use flash fill or reflector fill. If you don't have a flash or reflector find some shade - expose for the skin and let the sunlit part of the scene overexpose.Even better is to place them in the shade and reflect some sunlight into the shaded area providing a directional light which will provide a more dimensional 3D look to the subjects.

[texxter]

I photographed a girl soccer team in full sun the other day. I made sure that the sun was behind them (and shining on the lens) -I asked a parent to block the sun from the camera with a foldable reflector and two parents each to hould a white 3x6 ft reflector in front of the team. The reflectors did a good job raising the value on the players' faces. You can do the same thing with flash, but diffuse it somehow. The photos were not award-winners, but they were fine - let me know if you want to see one and I'll send it to you privately.

[brad]

Open shade is your friend.. but barring that... look at this strobist post from a day or two ago:

Strobist: On Assignment: Prep Quarterback

You may not have that much power (light wise) at your disposal, but it shows you can shoot any time of day if you are prepared.

[jinasealey]

Originally Posted by texxter

I photographed a girl soccer team in full sun the other day. I made sure that the sun was behind them (and shining on the lens) -I asked a parent to block the sun from the camera with a foldable reflector and two parents each to hould a white 3x6 ft reflector in front of the team. The reflectors did a good job raising the value on the players' faces. You can do the same thing with flash, but diffuse it somehow. The photos were not award-winners, but they were fine - let me know if you want to see one and I'll send it to you privately.

Yes, please!

[jinasealey]

Thank you for the quick responses. I can do fill flash and reflector. Not sure how much open shade there will be, but hopefully I can work with that too!

[jinasealey]

Originally Posted by brad

Open shade is your friend.. but barring that... look at this strobist post from a day or two ago:

Strobist: On Assignment: Prep Quarterback

You may not have that much power (light wise) at your disposal, but it shows you can shoot any time of day if you are prepared.

Very informative! Thanks for the link.