Welcome to Part 2 in this 4 part series on Photographing in Midday sun, these two images is taken within less then a minute of each other around 2:30 pm on a day where the sun was at the highest (Noon) at 1:15pm. (For Noon info, sunrise etc , see iPhone app Darkness) Hope you enjoy this midday series? This part also have good info on perspective and working with wide angel lenses in people photography.
Before I get into Image number 1 here is the technical info. Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III with a EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM @47mm and f 5.7 (43mm is normal on a DSLR not 50mm) Time taken 2:33:36 pm so 1 hour and 18 min after the sun was at the highest.
In midday sun tall buildings are great, I picked this silo because of it interesting shape against the sky. As you can see from Illustration # 2, I choose to work right inside the shade, and get lot’s of bounce from the sun hitting the ground. The silver reflector creates a great highlight to shape her face. I wanted the shaded area of the silo as background to get a colder color temperature in the background then the reflected light, and found it more peaceful. If I had wanted a more dramatic image I could have back lit her, and used the sunny side. If you have problems with clients reacting to the bright light? then make sure to read Part 4 of this series which have great solutions for that.
In Illustration #2 see how she leans her upper body towards the camera, it is to get less distortion shooting it at 24mm on full frame, if you look at the final image underneath this way of standing have avoided a distorted face and body, if she had stayed straight up she would have gotten very wide hips and a small head with an up the nose look. Try to think camera and subject leveled when you shoot wide angel, if you want the subject to look it’s best.
Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III with a EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ 24mm and f5.7 This image is taken at 2:34:19 pm, so less then a minute apart from the closer shot. This is what I like about high quality zooms, being able to quickly get different shots, especially when I’m laying in such an uncomfortable position 🙂
I decided to add more light on her face then the rest of the body since I consider her face the most important part of the image, not the clothes. If it had been a fashion image I would have approached it differently, drawn more attention to her clothes and maybe had her look away?
PS. NO retouch done on any of the images 🙂
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