Shooting against sun

[genchi]

Hi all,

i`ve created same thread in Tutorials section by mistake. Hope moderators won`t punish me too much

Ok so here are pics made by Deidre Lynn, hope it`s not against any rules that i took them from her blog and put them here. What i`m interested in is the way she use sun and glare to create gentle and yet vibrant picture. Does anyone know how to get this kind of result? Would reflector be enough or do you think there were some additional light sources used? (which i`m not sure about as it would be more than uncomfotable to carry them around)


Please if anyone knows more about this kind of lightning, all tips would be appreciated as i love this style.

Thanks

***EDIT*** Pictures removed. http://www.deirdrelynn.com

 

[CT]

The general technique for shooting into the light like this is to meter for the faces and let the bg over-expose, which it usually does. Even without lighting or reflectors it produces a very flattering result with those rim backlight halos around the hair.

The first shot has been taken at a slight angle - not quite into the light, so the bg has not blown out as much as it has in the second shot which seems to have been more directly into the light.

With either of these shots a reflector couild have been used to reflect some light back into the faces, or even flash on reduced power for a slight fill.

 

[HoppyUK]

Agree with CT. My guess is that there is a big reflector being used close to camera, parhaps a silver one that is more effective and controllable at distance. A reflector is much less obvious than normal fill flash, and this has been subtly done.

First pic also looks like there might have been some post processing on the darker background to the right, to lighten it. Maybe.

Second pic shows how tricky this technique is, and just by moving the camera slightly the flare could have gone all over the place. Different f/numbers will also change the effect and extent. It would be a very brave photographer who tried that on film, bordering on reckless

BTW, forum etiquette is that you should put a link back to the original website.

 

[CT]

It would be a very brave photographer who tried that on film, bordering on reckless

Indeed - you'd need nads of steel to try that on film with wedding shots.

I really like that first shot, but I can't help finding his splayed feet rather comic, and doesn't he look like Peter Sellers?

 

[KMatik]

I do this all the time, love it. The others have nailed it on the head really -- Just line up the sun behind them at a slight angle and even get the sun in the top right or left hand corners of your viewfinder, then snap. You'll not only get blown BG but also some sun flare coming across the scene, like she has in that second shot.

Even using buildings, trees, props, whatever you want to kind of "spade" the sun, and it will come up with some interesting results, too. The trick is not to get FULL sun, just sections or using something to "block" the full sun in the frame, while the rest gets blown.

Here are two of my latest:

The first, I obviously used the Bride to block the direct sun, then used a reflector to get some fill back on her face. And on the second I used the barn to split the light, blow the background, get flare and also, another reflector and strobe to bounce back onto the Bride AND Groom... You can get tricky with it in all sorts of ways, really.

Also, I should mention -- Some kind of colouring is often used in Post to "fix" the blown whites in the BG, too -- Otherwise you just have nasty white and no one likes that. Throw some colouring onto the white though and it'll make it into a totally different photo. Sometimes you are lucky and just get a nice sunset, but 9/10 it'll be nasty white -- So throw a selective layer of brown / yellow / tea colour at reduced opacity on the sky, and yup, it'll work.

 

[EdMoss]

I'm sure there isn't a problem posting another photographers images, if you get permission first. The images are copyright of the photographer who took them, posting them here is breach of that copyright, unless you have permission.