06cardinals

Must take a landscape photo when sun is very bright. What do you do to keep your photo from being too flat from the sun? Bill

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

Save a raw file and edit it.

Joe

Ray Maines

The right answer is just don't do it. Either get up at dawn or stay out until dusk when the light is better. Like we can actually do that while on a vacation, right?

The more realistic answer is to modify the bright mid-day light. Turn your back to the sun, wait for clouds, use a CP or ND filter, use shades or a flash.

Helpful article: https://www.photoblog.com/learn/secrets-outdoor-photography-midday-sun/

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

Bill, Chek your histogram and consider minus 1 for exposure

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Exposure bracketing might seem a bit unnecessary, but it'll give you a data-rich file that you can push and pull more than you could with a single exposure. For example you should be able to ramp up the contrast and still be able to recover bright highlights etc.

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

Just don't overexpose your highlights.

In very bright sun you don't even need to use a meter. Sunny 16 is a good place to start - exposure set to 1/ISO at f/16 or equivalent. For example, ISO 400 1/400 at f/16, ISO 400 1/800 at f/11, etc.

I usually set it 1/3 stop darker - ISO 400 1/1000 @ f/11 for full frame or ISO 400 1/2000 @ f/8 for APS-C. The brightest highlights will not get blown out.

If the shadows are darker than you want, a little PP will make things right.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Turn to right or left and use a polarizer filter.

The maximum degree of polarization occurs in a circular band 90° from the sun, so it is relatively easy to pinpoint exactly where the sky will appear at its darkest in your photographs. A simple trick is to form a pistol with your index and thumb fingers, then point your index finger straight at the sun. Now rotate your thumb clockwise or counter-clockwise (while keeping your index finger directed at the sun). The parts of the sky where your thumb points towards are going to have the maximum degree of polarization, as they are at the right angle from the sun. This means that when the sun is directly overhead close to the zenith, the sky will be polarized horizontally, making the sky appear more or less even in all directions.

hcmcdole

Try to keep the bright sky (if no clouds) out of the picture. If you have water in the scene, get reflections off the surface. Clouds always add a lot of interest even in bright days. In Lightroom you can recover the highlights usually. Have fun and keep shooting.

Richard Engelmann Loc: Boulder, Colorado

I used this fact to capture the setting moon last week. In a half phase, either waxing or waning, the moon will be ninety degrees from the sun and in the area where a polarizing filter can be used to great effect.

mizzee Loc: Boston,Ma

I use a CP and exposure compensation. I’ve also found that images that look flat sometimes convert well to B&W. I often out in mid-day.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

All of these are good suggestions but be sure to consider your subject. If you can narrow it down to part of the overall scene, you will have a better chance at figuring out how to deal with the broad range of contrast in the overall scene.

photoman022 Loc: Manchester CT USA

I've been in similar circumstances where I could not come back to capture the image I wanted. When that happened (and still happens), I shoot in RAW (which I shoot in all of the time) and I will edit the RAW photo in Adobe Camera RAW; sometimes I will make multiple copies of the same file and exposure blend them to give me the results I want.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Something you might try is taking a bracketed 3-image sequence, then using HDR to combine the images in post-processing. Most cameras can do a 3-shot bracket pretty quickly and easily.

Experiment with how far apart to make the bracketed shots... for a typical scenic shot I'd probably start by making one shot +.66, another that's -.33 and a third that's -1.33. (One stop increments). This because the biggest problem in scenic shots is usually over-exposing the sky by one to two stops (which can cause you to under-expose everything else).

Most post-processing software can then fairly automatically combine the images with some sort of HDR technique. The goal here is to "compress" the dynamic range to fit the medium, making a final image that looks "natural". (It's not to make the exaggerated look of some HDR images, done using more shots that cover a wider range.)

You'll have to experiment, but should get some interesting results that are a lot more to your liking.

You could use more images in the sequence, if you wish. It will be best to shoot with a tripod so that all images are the same. It also can be a problem if there are moving objects (running water, blowing leaves) etc. in the image area. But there may be ways to work around those, too (such as doing some of the work manually).

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

My personal experience is that full sun can result in much more detail because of the shadows created - it all depends on what is in the scene and how you capture it. I get the most "flatness" on cloudy days.

treadwl Loc: South Florida

There are some of us who actually wait for the right light--even when on vacation.