Shooting into the light

The other day I tweeted "I take a lot of chances on my photo shoots" and I really do! I love trying to find a different angle, shooting through something to give depth to my pictures and shooting directly into the sun. That last one can be kind of tricky and that's what I'm going to talk about today.

When you are shooting into the sun, you have to get good exposure and you also need to know how to edit it in post. Most of the time, I can put my camera in aperture priority (nikon) and it nails the shots every time when shooting into the sun. Unfortunately, photographers have a tendency to look at the back of the camera (in the sun light) and think they underexposed the shot, so they dial up manual mode and end up overexposing it to much. The thing to remember about shooting into the sun, is to not spend to much time on it and consider it a fun "taking a chance" shot. If it doesn't work, who cares... you have plenty of other shots to pick from ;)

The fun part is editing this shot! The very first place I start in Lightroom is my black levels. I bring them down a lot to add some richness to the picture, then I adjust my white balance. I was taught a long time ago (in the Navy) to always get the exposure correct first and the white balance will be so much easier. Then I go to my tone curve and click the little box in the bottom right hand corner that says "click to edit point curve" when you hover over it. I bring the shadows and darks down. This will give you a rich photo full of contrast and color! 

the original shot straight out of camera

The shot after editing it in Lightroom

This style is not for everyone, but I love it! It's easy to get your safe shots, so go ahead and take those and then have fun experimenting. You don't even have to tell the couple that you're taking a chance on something new... just try it and you will look awesome when it turns out great!

If you try this, email me the shot you come up with! I would love to see it!! joe@joehendricks.com

Leave me a comment if you like this post... I'm thinking of doing more.

Joe