For people shooting it's not only direct sun but any bright sunlight
around anywhere. Consider the shady/sunny family photo here:
<http://www.chucknorcutt.com/family.php> This is one of the hardest
things there is to handle and it must be done with flash. (and this one
isn't done as well as it might have been)
The first thing one has to do is establish the sunlit exposure for the
background such that it doesn't get blown out. This is the
"controlling" exposure and will most likely be at minimum ISO, and
maximum x-sync shutter speed. For an E-1 this would be ISO 100 and
1/180 second. Assuming this is not peak sun (which it wasn't) it may be
1/2 to 1 stop down from sunny 16. That means an aperture of, say, f/11
at 1/100 or, call it f/8 or f/9 at 1/180 second. Once can safely
overexpose the sunlit background slightly (as this one is) but not by
very much.
Now the shutter speed and aperture are fixed for the sunny background.
But, unfortunately, they're also fixed for the shady foreground and the
exposure is all wrong. Since the family is in the heavy shade of a
large tree they are likely to be 2-3 stops underexposed with the
parameters chosen for the background daylight exposure. The only
solution is to bring the foreground up with flash power and, since ISO
and aperture are already fixed, varying the flash power and/or distance
is the only control yet to be exercised.
In this case there should have been two flash units. One serving as the
"sun" about 45 degrees up and the other serving as fill light to cut the
shadows cast by the main. In fact there was only one light available
and it was on a rather short light stand. The result is seen on the
shadows cast on the woman in blue and girl on the right which should
have been much less noticeable had I had the right equipment and done
the job properly.
So, if you didn't know already, now you know why people photogs don't
like sunny 16 or anything remotely approaching it.
Chuck Norcutt
Moose wrote:
> Chuck Norcutt wrote:
>
>>But you don't necessarily want to take away all that red either
>><http://www.chucknorcutt.com/Gloucester%20morning/index.htm>
>>
>
> I was going to say something similar. Warm, early/late light is quite
> flattering to people and many other subjects.
>
> I seem to recall reading that some pro people and landscape photogs
> consider the middle of the day a time to do anything other than photography.
>
> Heavens knows there are unending jillions of snapshots in the world of
> people looking terrible in direct midday light.
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