We've all heard that old wives tale about keeping the sun behind you when you're
photographing
so that its lighting up whatever it is that your camera is looking at,
but there's no reason why you should always do that
in fact some of the most impressive interesting pictures you could ever see
are taken against the light, shooting into the Sun.
let's have a quick look at it if I move around here take my glasses off.
Now the Sun is
pretty much behind me and Jayne is sort of shooting against the light.
If she changes the exposure a bit for my face
the shadows that were there a moment ago have disappeared and i'm in a much more
even light . Okay the backgrounds possibly gone a bit lighter but there's no
reason why you can't shoot into the light.
If your cameras up high you get a different sort of a angle and
perspective in the background.
why does it look good?
In all these pictures notice that the shadows
are coming towards the camera that's because the light
is behind the subject regardless of what it is and in some of these pictures you can
see the Sun in shot.
The Sun with the beach hut here, the only thing that really makes this picture
interesting because let's face it, it's a very simple
image it's the sun and the highlight of light
on the timbers. So why is it that this works so well?
what is it about putting the light behind the subject, what makes it sort
of work so well? Let me just, i'm gonna try
dump my sunnys some where, i'll put them on my bag.
Look at these ropes here again, there's all sorts of interesting textures and stuff in't
there within a rope.
But right now the light is pretty much over my shoulder.
Let's just take a picture, i'm just gonna shoot the edge of these ropes here,
so that you can compare something.
right, there's a shot going that way
and if I go the other side and I just take the same picture
going in that direction you look and see what a difference there is
to the ropes and I know the background is going to be very very slightly different.
look how much more texture there is, why is there more texture? why do the ropes
look more ropey.
Well come and have a look, if you go, Jayne go that side with the camera for a mo,
if you just look at these ropes from
where you are over there. The lights coming this way
and so there are no shadows all the little hollows and nooks and crannies in
rope, they're all filled in.
if you come around this side and i'll do a little pirouette the other way
now when you look at those ropes
the light is coming from this direction
so there are little shadows forming on this side and those shadows and
little nooks and crannies created by the weave of the rope
they're giving it a texture, a shape which makes it much more
interesting.
Let's go and have a little look for a picture, over here
we've got some flags, come on Jayne let's go and have a look at these flags.
now we can approach these in lot's of ways.
I've photographed these flags a few times actually because I think they're quite
interesting. Let's take one going this way so i'm working with the sun.
the sun's over here and i'm gonna photograph
those flags in this direction,
let's see what we've got I'm using a wide lens
let's just get down here because i don't
want the car or the van in the shot. It's not a bad picture we've got some nice blue
sky going on with the red flags,
there's not much drama is there? So if I go and stand the other side
and put the Sun right behind these little flag poles.
There's about to be a collision by the looks of it.
whoa that was close,
someone in a sailboat he hasn't even acknowledged the fact. Nevermind sorry I
got sidetracked,
they just about missed hitting the lifeboat. When I come round this side
and put the Sun directly behind the flags
and take a similar picture now I'm gonna put the actual Sun itself
right behind the little pole that the flag is mounted on because I don't want it coming straight into my
lens.
But i'm just gonna hide it behind one of those little poles, see if I can line that up
properly. There we go, put it in
focus, waiting for the breeze to flapper the flag nicely and
one more for luck, there we go. I think you'll agree i think that is much more dramatic
because the light is coming along the flag it's giving it a shape and a texture
by putting the Sun immediately behind this little thin pole.
The sun isn't going straight up the lens, but it's sort of bursting out
from the Middle
and it's giving it a whole load of interest and kind of
drama I suppose is the word and we've looked at a couple of examples where you can
use this
on very very small details, when i was here having a wander around waiting for jayne to
arrive with the film camera
they did have to launch the life boat, that's why I was kinda
interested in that
and as they launched it I shot these pictures, as you can see the light is
behind the lifeboat it's coming towards me
but I think it looks really rather dramatic looks quite exciting
show you can use this sorted backlighting shooting against the light
technique not only for smaller details
but you can shoot in a landscape as well because it'll bring out textures in the
countryside
little hillocks and all the rest of it.