Shooting in Harsh Light

chuckinsocal

HI Gang,

I live on the SoCal coast and the sun here is very, very harsh. I think our "Golden Hour" lasts about 27 seconds and if you blink you'll miss the best part of it. As a result, I'm often not very happy with my day time photos. I've gone to slightly underexposing my images in camera (EV at -.3) then adjusting the exposure in ACR and/or PS CS3 and that seems to work ok but I'd much rather get a decent exposure right in the camera.

I've found that the Shadow/Highlights tool in PS CS3 does a pretty good job in mitigating the glare caused by the harsh sun and in bringing out some detail in the dark shadows but the images wind up looking a little artificial to me and it's not the same as getting a decent exposure in camera.

Not shooting in the harsh light seems to be the conventional wisdom but it gets depressing when I have the time and motivation to go out and shoot but I don't because the sun's too harsh. Or, I do but the photos are disappointing.

I may wind up investing in an ND or GND filter to see if that helps but I'm hoping there might be a better way.

So, other than waiting 'till after sunset to shoot, how does one deal with such harsh light? I'm sure there are thousands of photographers here on the So Cal coast shooting under the same sun as I do so how they deal with the problem?

I shoot a D80 in RAW mode with the 18-135 kit lens on most of the time. I've mostly shot in Program Mode but now I'm learning to shoot in SP if I need to stop the action or mitigate camera shake or in AP when that makes sense to me.

I welcome any advice or wisdom on the subject.

Thanks.

rustic

Hi Chuck,

Can you be a little more specific about what you're shooting? People? Landscapes? Can you post or link to a few examples of shots that didn't come out the way you had hoped (and include EXIF data for the shots)? I tried to follow the link in your sig, but it seemed to redirect to a site that doesn't exist.

Without any more info on what you're trying to do, I think my best suggestions would be to try to either shoot in the shade, where the light isn't so harsh, or to embrace the harsh light and look for shots that work well with the high contrast. Maybe try some black and white, high contrast?

Again, if you can give some more info on what you're trying to shoot and show us some examples, I'm sure someone will be able to come up with some suggestions

patatahead

hi, i'm not that good in lighting but you could use a couple of flash and set WB to flash see if it would suit your taste

HTH

pathfinder

Shoot in the shade w fill flash, instead of bright direct sunlight, maybe?

Do what Hollywood does, use a frame with a scrim to soften the sunlight. White nylon sheet or screen and plastic piping for a framework. Or buy a scrim from California Sunbounce if this is something you do often.

catspaw

Tossing this into the ring:

good outline of techniques found at:

"I love to photograph in middday sun":
http://kennethlinge.squarespace.com/kenneth-linges-journal/2010/5/10/i-love-to-photograph-in-midday-sun-part-1-of-4.html

(part 1-3 are up, 4 isn't posted yet)

chuckinsocal

Hi Guys and thanks for your responses.

It's not about fill flash or white balance. It's about the intense glare that's created by the harsh sun.

Rustic, thanks for letting me know about the bad link in my sig line. That's been fixed now so you can take a look at what I like to shoot.

I don't shoot people unless they are just random people who happen to be part of the scene, like at the beach or something.

I just mostly shoot places, things, and scenes that are interesting to me and that others may find interesting as well. I really don't adhere to a specific genre so it can be pretty random. The best description I can think of is "Life on the SoCal Coast".

I also do some incident photography for our city's police and fire departments. It's just a hobby but these people like seeing them selves and what they do on the internet plus they get to share the images with friends and family.

I usually trash what I don't like or can't fix so later I'll dig through my recycle bin to see if I can find any examples.

Thanks again and I'll post later.

pathfinder

One way of dealing with harsh contrasty lighting of objects,rather than people, is to shoot hdr.

Another is to shoot IR to take advantage of the harsh lighting.

BeachBill

I think I need to defend the "light" of SoCal here... I've got hundreds, okay more like thousands of great light photos along the SoCal coast (OC and northen SD mainly including Carlsbad) usually captured 1 hour before to 2 hours after sunrise and 2 hours before sunset to 1 hour after. If you want to see harsh light, come visit Las Vegas.

I really don't do anything special for the light in SoCal or LV. Actually I think the light is pretty sweet during the "sweet" hour. Sometimes I use my polarizer (most of the time I'm too lazy) and my PP is generally the same no matter where I'm shooting.

The majority of my work has been shot in aperture priority but more and more I'm shooting manual, especially when I need to force the camera to shoot the way I want, not how it thinks I want.

I say get brave and shoot manual.

Snowgirl

catspaw wrote: »

Tossing this into the ring:

good outline of techniques found at:

"I love to photograph in middday sun":
http://kennethlinge.squarespace.com/kenneth-linges-journal/2010/5/10/i-love-to-photograph-in-midday-sun-part-1-of-4.html

(part 1-3 are up, 4 isn't posted yet)

This guy is very generous with his 'how to' information. Thanks for the link.

chrisjohnson

I guess San Diego qualifies as Socal. I love the light there and I do agree that taking photos is a challenge.

Next time I go I will be treating it as if it was a desert. Quite weird with the buildings, the largely artificial greenery, and the sea. But a desert scene nevertheless.

The people also seem suited for the desert. Harsh and extreme perspectives. Last time I was there (November) it seemed especially brutal - guys on the street begging in nearly new golf shirts, drunk and desperate; military people with a very sharp edge, tales of psych patients being shot dead by the police - "good thing too"; lost tourists from out of town worried where it is safe to walk; rich leafy suburbs in never-never dreamland; visionary scientists with a loose grip on reality. Extreme contrasts. Bizarre and disconnected.

You need to use the light to tell it how you see it, and I hope you see it more positively than me, including the beautiful climate.

chuckinsocal

Goldenballs,

I love your depiction of San Diego. I'm in North San Diego County about 30 miles North of downtown. About 70-80% of everything here was built by man in the last 20-30 years and most of the greenery was started by man in a nursery somewhere then transplanted here by man. The point being that we don't seem to have much of that seasoned natural character that other regions enjoy. I see most of the people here as being plastic all cut from the same mold so there's not much in the way of cultural or any other kind of diversity.

A little off topic but it is another one of my frustrations in deciding what and where to shoot without having to travel 50-100 miles. Or, maybe I'm just jaded and creating my own obstacles .

But, you're probably right. I'll just have to learn to use the light to my advantage somehow.

Thanks so much for your input.

chuckinsocal

Thanks Bill for your response.

Actually, I lived in LV from 1976 to 1981. I wasn't into photography then but I do recall the harsh light and intense heat, neither one of which I get along well with today.

I think what I'll do is look at your galleries to see how your photos look (I already know they look good ) and check the EXIF info. I'm sure there's a good education in there.

Thanks again for your input.

Illiterati

BeachBill wrote: »

I think I need to defend the "light" of SoCal here... I've got hundreds, okay more like thousands of great light photos along the SoCal coast (OC and northen SD mainly including Carlsbad) usually captured 1 hour before to 2 hours after sunrise and 2 hours before sunset to 1 hour after. If you want to see harsh light, come visit Las Vegas.

I really don't do anything special for the light in SoCal or LV. Actually I think the light is pretty sweet during the "sweet" hour. Sometimes I use my polarizer (most of the time I'm too lazy) and my PP is generally the same no matter where I'm shooting.

I used to live in Las Vegas. Two years of living in what should really have been named Orange, Nevada.

Nothing quite like stepping outside first thing in the morning and having the sun grab you by the eyeballs and shaking you around a bit.

I love my SoCal light. I always have a polarizing filter attached to my lens when I'm taking photos in the bright daylight. If the light's too bright, I attach the hood as well. It seems to help quite a bit.

Illiterati

chuckinsocal wrote: »

Goldenballs,

I love your depiction of San Diego. I'm in North San Diego County about 30 miles North of downtown. About 70-80% of everything here was built by man in the last 20-30 years and most of the greenery was started by man in a nursery somewhere then transplanted here by man. The point being that we don't seem to have much of that seasoned natural character that other regions enjoy. I see most of the people here as being plastic all cut from the same mold so there's not much in the way of cultural or any other kind of diversity.

A little off topic but it is another one of my frustrations in deciding what and where to shoot without having to travel 50-100 miles. Or, maybe I'm just jaded and creating my own obstacles .

But, you're probably right. I'll just have to learn to use the light to my advantage somehow.

Thanks so much for your input.

I grew up in San Diego County, in what used to be rural Poway. At that time, the only grocery store in town was Safeway at the border of Rancho Bernardo and Poway.

Man, but you've brought back some memories with your posts.

LiveAwake

I'll second what a few have said here: For scenery & landscapes, try a polarizing filter to cut the glare, and if you're getting stray light on the front of your lens, use the hood or your hand or whatever you can find to block it. For people (or anything close up, really) change the light either by diffusing it, bouncing it, or adding to it with speedlights.