Full Sun by Tracy Koch

Full Sun By Tracy Koch

Full sun isn’t the most ideal light, but that doesn’t have to stop you from shooting. As a mom of three little kids, we are rarely outside (or even awake) for golden hour. So I’ve learned to embrace the light we have mid-day, and often that means harsh light. In this kind of light, I’m usually always shooting at ISO 100 and I use super fast shutter speeds. It helps to use a reflector, but I find that hard to do when I’m by myself with the kids. So I try to find natural reflectors, such as white concrete or bright buildings. Natural reflectors will help balance the light and fill in the shadows. Below is a list of tips and ideas for shooting in full sun. I hope this will give you some inspiration!

1. Go faceless! I do many faceless photos in full sun. If you don’t have the most pleasing light, it’s not as distracting if you don’t see the subject’s face.

2. Use negative space and be minimalistic. Here is a photo of just one of my girls and a wide open beach. (Notice it’s also faceless.)

3. Play with reflections. I love reflections and think that they can really make a photo more interesting. In full sun, why not throw a pair of sunglasses on your subject and capture the reflection? In the first image below, I shot a reflection at the beach. (Notice it’s also faceless and minimalistic.) In the second image, I played around and used my iPhone to get a reflection. A viewer will probably be trying to decipher the image rather than paying attention to the unflattering light on the subject’s face.

4. Take in the landscape and more of the scene. Full sun is a great time to capture the beautiful blue sky, puffy white clouds and surrounding landscape. In the first photo below, I wanted to capture the water flowing across the beach and the hazy blue sky. The second photo is another beach scene with my girls. In these photos, my subjects are also far enough away that the harsh light on their bodies isn’t terribly distracting.

5. Create a sunburst. Pick a narrow aperture and partially block the sun to enhance the sunburst effect. Here I shot at f/22 and blocked part of the sun behind my husband. Play around! Different lenses will give you different sunbursts. 6. Find interesting shadows and lines. With harsh light, you may also find some interesting shadows to create high-contrast photos. I love to convert these type of photos to black and white.

6. Find interesting shadows and lines. With harsh light, you may also find some interesting shadows to create high-contrast photos. I love to convert these type of photos to black and white.

7. Capture details and movement. Here I shot flowing hair and splashing children.

8. Try new things. I tried my first in-camera double exposure the other day. And I did it in full sun just for you! I took a shot of our neighbor playing in our pool, then shot down at the water in the pool for the second exposure.

9. Have fun! Don’t let that harsh light stop you from capturing fun summer memories and doing what you love.