Exercise 34 Variety with a low sun

What: The main brief of this exercise was to take a number of photographs when the sun is low; to demonstrate four differing styles of lighting
Where: At the house
When: Just as the sun was setting.
How: The camera was moved around the subject and the subject was also moved to allow the four different lighting styles to be demonstrated; frontal lighting, side lighting, back lighting and edge lighting.

I started by looking at the sunrise and sunset times for a particular day, I then waited until I judged the right moment and through using differing positions, experiments and locations I finally got a number of photographs that I liked.

Frontal Lighting;
Where the sun is behind the camera and is striking the subject fully. I decided her to use a telephoto lens to allow me to have some distance from my subject as this allowed me to take the photograph without being in the frame.

1.
D50,Aperture f/14, Shutter Speed 1/40 sec, ISO 200, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Daylight White Balance, Hand Held, 18-55 lens



2.
D50,Aperture f/13, Shutter Speed 1/40 sec, ISO 200, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Daylight White Balance, Hand Held, 18-55 lens



The main issue I had here was that the subject had the low sun in her eyes so I had to move her slightly off centre to allow her to look forward without being blinded by the sun. However I did see that it cast long dark shadows on the subject.

Side Lighting
I quickly found moving my position was not the only answer to this example and that I could also move the subject around as well to improve or reduce the strength and effect of the light.

1.
D50,Aperture f/5.6, Shutter Speed 1/40 sec, ISO 200, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Daylight White Balance, Hand Held, 18-55 lens




2.
D50,Aperture f/5.6, Shutter Speed 1/750 sec, ISO 1600, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Daylight White Balance, Hand Held, 18-55 lens



I really liked the quality of light here and the way that the subject was partially cast in shadows. I thought that it made for some moody lighting and I liked the way that it broke down the subject into light and shadow.

Back Lighting
I did this over two days as the first image was an experiment with a very low sun and a very low position looking up at the subject and into the light.

1.
D50,Aperture f/5.6, Shutter Speed 1/40 sec, ISO 200, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Daylight White Balance, Hand Held, 18-55 lens



2.
D50,Aperture f/7.1, Shutter Speed 1/40 sec, ISO 200, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Daylight White Balance, Hand Held, 18-55 lens



3.
D50,Aperture f/14, Shutter Speed 1/40 sec, ISO 200, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Daylight White Balance, Hand Held, 18-55 lens



I liked the fact that with back lighting, it did not have to be all silhouette and nothing else, and that with careful positioning you could get a well light image that did not have any lens flare.

Edge Lighting
This I found the hardest as I would normally use edge lighting when I am using artificial lighting and I had not tried it using natural lighting and a low sun position. I really had to tray hard to get this correct and had quite a number of attempts to position myself correctly.

1.
D50,Aperture f/5.6, Shutter Speed 1/40 sec, ISO 200, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Daylight White Balance, Hand Held, 18-55 lens



I really did learn a lot about the positioning of subjects and the use of a low sun in lighting. I especially enjoyed the back lighting and trying and finally succeeding in getting the edge lighting as I found this the hardest example to do without using artificial lighting. I also really like the quality of light a low sun can bring to an image.