Shooting into the Sun - please share your knowledge and images (Page 2): Thanks so much, John. Would love to see some of your shots posted here. Tell us your stories!

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

jaymatt wrote:

Excellent work on all these, Linda. My personal taste gravitates toward hiding the sun, as you did in the last set. I find that one with the fingers "holding" the sun very interesting.

Thanks so much, John. Would love to see some of your shots posted here. Tell us your stories!

howlynn Loc: pueblo west, co

Linda From Maine wrote:

This my favorite lighting for photography, so Im ... (show quote)

Thank you for this topic Linda. I took this for my information and to see what kind of effects would occur with a nano coated lens.

I was panning a osprey getting flight shots and being careful where the sun was. I decided to try and put the osprey directly between myself and the sun. Here is the frame just before the osprey was totally blowout by the sun. Since I was panning I didn't worry about the sun doing damage to my sensor. No filters, no lens hood.

D7100
80-400mmG + 1.4 tele
Shutter priority SS-1600
370mm
ISO-250
F/32

Would this be considered 'Contre Jour"' ?

Osprey flying into the sun

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angela k Loc: Long Island

Hi Linda, here are two shots I took which reflected the sun. I visited this trail for the first time and had no idea that there was a stainless steel sphere way out in the distance. I saw the sun glaring through the tall grasses and followed the light. The rest was a very pleasant surprise!!

Cartas Al Cielo means letters to God

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RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

I do a fair few dawn shoots each year and that means a lot of shooting into the sun.

I almost always use a lens hood, the exception is when I am using a slot in filter.
Most of the time. I do not like flare in my images so I will shade the front of the lens when shooting (if possible) or remove the flare when post procesing.

#1 Redhead beach.
Canon 5D (full frame) + Canon 24-105 F4 lens @ 40mm
A 3 stop soft ND grad was used to control the contrast.
1/4 sec @ f9 and ISO 50.
A tripod with a remote release for the camera was used.

#2 Backlight can also be great when shooting flowers etc.
This was shot on film so no exif data available

#3 normally when shooting motor sport we tend to follow the sun, however the action doesn't always allow this.

Shot almost directly into the sun. A lens hood was used, and normally I have a "protective" filter on the lens as the atmosphere is not alway "clean". Hence the degraded image
Shooting RAW helped to get a usable image when PPing.
Canon 40D + Canon 100-400 lens @ 400mm - monopod.
1/400 @ f11 and ISO 200

Redhead beach

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Fern

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accident

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Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

howlynn wrote:

Thank you for this topic Linda. I took this for my information and to see what kind of effects would occur with a nano coated lens.

...Would this be considered 'Contre Jour"' ?

Thank you for this breathtaking image, howlynn! For me, it has fantastic impact, with the colors, and silhouette with a bit of feather detail. Beautiful!

Can you explain what a nano coated lens is?

Regarding contre jour, here is a bit of definition from wikipedia. I'd certainly not have hesitated to post your shot to St3v3M's challenge!

"Contre-jour produces backlighting of the subject. This effect usually hides details, causes a stronger contrast between light and dark, creates silhouettes and emphasizes lines and shapes. The sun, or other light source, is often seen as either a bright spot or as a strong glare behind the subject."

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

angela k wrote:

...Cartas Al Cielo...

Such a cool story, Angela. I can well imagine the delight of discovery!

A shot reflecting the sun is something I hadn't considered for this topic, so I'm very appreciative of your posting these. Did you include the sun in the shot because it was the glare that led you there to begin with? Or other reason - would love to hear more about your decision in that.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

RichardTaylor wrote:

.

Richard, thank you so much for your fantastic images and for including all the details. You've represented a terrific variety of subjects, lighting and challenges. Greatly appreciate your time!

Your striking fern close-up reminds me of when I was at our local arboretum and a helpful person suggested I wait 'til mid day when the sun wouldn't be in my way :)

angela k Loc: Long Island

Linda From Maine wrote:

Such a cool story, Angela. I can well imagine the delight of discovery!

A shot reflecting the sun is something I hadn't considered for this topic, so I'm very appreciative of your posting these. Did you include the sun in the shot because it was the glare that led you there to begin with? Or other reason - would love to hear more about your decision in that.

Linda, the first shot was most definitely because of the sun glare, it really was like a beacon light guiding us to find the sphere, and I loved how it peeked out of the tall grass. The second shot, as you can image, I had no choice but to capture the sun glare. I'd say the sphere was about 4 feet around!

You ask, where was I in the reflection.... I cloned myself out since I didn't want to look 4' wide!!
:lol:

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

angela k wrote:

Linda, the first shot was most definitely because of the sun glare, it really was like a beacon light guiding us to find the sphere, and I loved how it peeked out of the tall grass. The second shot, as you can image, I had no choice but to capture the sun glare. I'd say the sphere was about 4 feet around!

You ask, where was I in the reflection.... I cloned myself out since I didn't want to look 4' wide!!
:lol:

LOL - always handy to have proficiency with the clone tool.

"Beacon light" is a terrific description. Thanks again for your time and story, Angela!

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

Thanks Linda.

angela k Loc: Long Island

Linda From Maine wrote:

LOL - always handy to have proficiency with the clone tool.

Beacon light is a terrific description. Thanks again for your time and story, Angela!

I enjoyed participating in your topic Linda and I do love that clone tool!!

:-D

howlynn Loc: pueblo west, co

Linda From Maine wrote:

Thank you for this breathtaking image, howlynn! Fo... (show quote)

I think this would be similar the 'ASC' coating that Canon has on its 'L' lenses. Nano coating is Nikon's term.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

howlynn wrote:

I think this would be similar the 'ASC' coating that Canon has on its 'L' lenses. Nano coating is Nikon's term.

Thanks!

Grabbed from a couple of online articles:

nano - a coating with very low refractive index

ASC significantly reduces flare and ghosting that cannot be prevented with conventional vapor-deposited multi-layer coatings, improving anti-reflection performance.

Big Stopper Loc: London

Happy New Year Linda. I shoot into the sun a fair bit - well, dawn and dusk seascapes sort of call for it so for me it's an "embrace."

Here's one of my favourite shots from last year (posted previously) with a starburst created by small aperture.

Great topic and I love your examples.

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Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Luggerbugs wrote:

Happy New Year Linda. I shoot into the sun a fair bit - well, dawn and dusk seascapes sort of call for it so for me it's an "embrace."

Here's one of my favourite shots from last year (posted previously) with a starburst created by small aperture.

Great topic and I love your examples.

So happy you shared this inspiring image, Bob. It's gorgeous! Were the extended sun rays quite visible in your initial capture, or did it require a bit of extra work to coax them fully into view there in the clouds?

If you did any special pp to that area, can you share your tips?

Thanks so much for joining the thread!