This can be tough to get right, but I’ve found that the latest camera sensors seem to be dealing with this difficult lighting situation really well. Experiment with your camera to see how it copes and create beautiful dreamy contemporary images.
I am using this technique in both my travel and garden photography and clients really love the feel it gives.
Here are a few tips for shooting into the sun.
KEEP YOUR LENS CLEAN
Dust, grease and scratches increase the risk of getting distracting flare. If you have a lens protecting filter on, take it off as sunlight can bounce in between the filter and the lens like in the shot below.
Without the filter.
USE MANUAL MODE
Choose the ISO you want, shoot in RAW and manual focus. Choosing your own aperture and shutter speed gives you the desired control over the effect you are after. Underexposing the image by meter reading for the sun will give you a dark silhouette and what I call a 1970’s feel which is dated to say the least.
For the shot below I got my exposure reading by pointing the camera to the far right (away from the sun), once I’d set the meter reading in manual mode I pointed the camera into the sun and got the perfect exposure with detail in everything, the subject has a blown out highlight which is the bright sun giving a more contemporary feel.
The shot below same technique, meter reading away from the shaft of sunlight, then moved the camera position on a tripod and then the image taken into the light, leaving detail in the surrounding rock formation at Upper Antelope Canyon.
TRIPODS MAKE LIFE EASIER
When shooting backlight with the camera on a tripod, it’s easier to move the camera angle to control any distracting flare. The shot below is on a tripod, see lots of flare.
ISO 100 f22 @ 1/8th sec
This type of flare I don’t like. Once the camera was on the tripod I shielded any bright sunlight getting into the lens by ‘flagging’ to block light and protecting the lens from flare. I use my Lee filters black filter pouch placed above the lens until flare disappears. This can take a few goes to get right. In the photo below the black Lee filters pouch is in the top of the frame. However you can already see the flare has been reduced with more contrast.
ISO 100 f22 @ 1/8th sec with 0.6 Grad soft ND
This is the shot I was after below. Fully flagged and no flare shooting straight into the sun. To hold more detail in the final image I used a 2 stop soft graduated ND filter.
ISO 100 f22 @ 1/8th sec with 0.6 Grad soft ND
ND GRADUATED FILTERS
These will help balance the exposure in your photograph. Remember to keep your filters clean.
As the sun was obscured behind a small cloud in the photograph below there was less chance of flare so I kept the ND grad on. Again I exposed for the far left of the frame, then pointed the camera into the sunrise light for a clean, fresh and modern sunrise feel.
0.6 Grad soft ND
HIDE THE SUN BEHIND AN OBJECT
Placing the sun behind an object gives you less chance of flare and can create a beautiful feel to your photograph. The shot below was taken for Paul Hervey-Brookes show garden for Viking Cruises at the RHS Hampton Court Palace flower show.
The shot below taken again on Paul Hervey-Brookes garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show this year.
EXPERIMENT
One thing to take into consideration is that various camera models do act differently using this technique. Get to really know your camera model and what the sensor can deal with. Have fun and try out different apertures and lenses to see what effects they give. Once you’ve mastered the technique with a tripod you can use it in other styles of photography where a tripod can’t be used.
BLACK AND WHITE
The technique also works well when converting images to black and white. At the Grand Canyon the moody dramatic conditions immediately made me think I wanted a black and white image, the conditions were crying out for it. I shoot in colour in RAW, then convert to B&W later in Lightroom. You can see on the left side of the photograph the sun was shining through the clouds. I again used a 0.6ND soft graduated filter to hold detail in the stormy rain filled clouds.
Do you use this technique in your photography? Hope you found the tips useful so you can put the technique to good use, I would love to see your results. Thanks for taking time to drop by the blog.
I have a blog post all about converting to B&W HERE
WARNING: Be really careful, don’t look into the sun for too long as it can damage your eyes. The main reason this technique works really well with a tripod is once the photograph is lined up you don’t need to keep looking through the viewfinder into the sun. With hand held shooting into the sun you can blind yourself.
My holidays & courses to Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma, Marrakech the USA and the Gower, can be found on my holidays website http://www.digitalphotographyholidays.com
Newsletter subscribers receive special offers throughout the year on my travel photography holiday and landscape photography workshops, you can subscribe here
‘May the light be with you’
Stephen Studd Photography: www.stephenstuddphotography.com
KEEP IN TOUCH:
Facebook:
Instagram:
With the advent of digital photography and phones with cameras we are all photographers, but what makes one photograph really stand out from the others? The answer to that is there is no single correct way to photograph flowers, however, certain elements do have to be taken into consideration to make a great shot.
It can get pretty hot here too, but the warm hued landscapes are worth the heat, especially near to sunset when the place comes on fire.
as the hoodoos glow in the morning sunlight.
As Utah is +1 hour ahead in time from Nevada and Arizona, sunrises are at a very comfortable 7.00am in September, no excuses for getting up for these views.
The skies here can be outrageously moody.
In a very synchronistic way that always seem to happen on Navajo Land, I have teamed up with a Navajo friend who has taken me way off road to a place only accessible with a Navajo guide, this has been the highlight on the photo tour I run here. The drive is totally amazing going over terrain that only a local would be confident doing, but once at the top of one of the mesa’s the panoramic views of the sandstone formations from a distance bathed in warm evening light are breath taking.
As for the desert night skies high up from this vantage point, you can see the Milky Way and a billion stars as there is no light pollution here. The sunrises from up here too are a landscape photographers dream.
The Grand Canyon is world famous for the light, which photographs well whatever the weather conditions are. I personally prefer real moody scenes as they really add drama to photographs,
the same scene can change within a very short space of time, making it worthwhile to stop and photograph the ever changing views that appear in front of your lens.
There are so many great turn outs to stop at along the south rim meaning that you don’t have to walk far for stunning photographs.
Americana and old-school kitsch.
Hackberry stores literally in the middle of nowhere is sure worth a stop on the way back,
as is the strange little town of Chloride, those that have been there will know what I mean!
The one thing you will need for a two week road trip is plenty of storage space to back up all the photographs you will take. 
Instead of heading back to the madness of Vegas after this nature immersion I like to stay in Boulder City, Nevada. On the way you pass the Hoover Dam, worthy of a quick visit. Boulder is a small compact city that you can walk around and has some fantastic places to eat and craft beer micro breweries. From here it’s only a short drive to Las Vegas airport to fly home.
There’s great value to be taken from photography road-tripping as they are not only full 
Taking my first peek at the show last year on the Sunday before press day, Manoj Malde’s ‘Beneath a Mexican Sky’ garden stopped me in my tracks with it’s in your face bold use of colour. Having spent some time in Mexico myself I know that Mexicans are not shy of using colour.
The Viking Cruises ‘Garden of Inspiration’ by Sarah Eberle had bright vivid mosaics and of course the orange tree to take you straight to the Med.
The Breast Cancer Now Garden: Through the Microscope designed by Ruth Willmott
used the colour palette of oranges, reds and yellows to great effect.
with the occasional splash from deep bass sound, a novel idea well executed.
The Anneka Rice ‘Colour Cutting’ garden designed by Sarah Raven was a colourful garden which had a lovely retro, nostalgic feel to it.
The vegetable garden also reflected the warm colours of reds and bronzes.
Matt’s sumptuous planting truly showcased beautiful flower, grass and conifer plant combinations alike.
The very contemporary urban garden showcased the principles of sustainable rainwater management, with naturalistic informal planting set against the strong shapes and forms of the paths and hard surfaces. 
The RHS ‘
