How to still get GREAT PHOTOS in the bright mid-day sun

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My name is Simon d'Entremont and I'm a professional wildlife and nature photographer from Eastern Canada. In this video I'll show you how to get great photographs even in the bright mid-day sun.

I use Topaz Labs software for noise reduction, sharpening and upscaling:

Music in intro: "Nicer", by Houses on the Hill. Find that, and other sound effects at Epidemic Sounds

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[simon_dentremont]

What’s your favorite tip for shooting in bright sunlight? Let us know?

[muradalm]

"Go to a shady area" I've done that and now i don't have a camera anymore! Thanks Simon 😂

[h.khoinguyen]

Every day Simon release a video is a happy day!

[johnfitzgerald]

This is a great channel. Lots of really useful info delivered succinctly. But, I have to admit, 10% of the reason I come here is to hear Simon say, “My name is Simon d’Entremont”.

[cortanathelawless]

You're literally giving out a professional photographer apprenticeship for free. Thank you. I love how dense and complex your videos are so no matter what kind of photographer you are you learn something useful.

[brucesmith]

Good ideas Simon. I like doing a few of these things:
1. Where the subject is against a bright background, zoom in and fill the frame with the subject and spot meter. Worry less about the blown-out background areas.
2. Use flash to balance - this minimizes dynamic range extremes. But as you said, use just enough and never so much that the flash induces specular highlights.
3. Use ND Grad filters. This helps reduce extremes. I use a reverse ND Grad for sunrise/sunset photography when the sun is at the horizon.
4. Switch to monochrome. Extremely contrast scenes look great in B&W.

[LukaS-iygs]

Man.. I'm always in awe when you show some examples of wildlife, especially those backlight birds. Truly, a master of your trade. Hats off!

[scillyautomatic]

My favorite way of dealing with bright sunlight is shooting the shady side of the subject (which Simon mentioned) and filling with a LED if necessary. I shoot video the same way using LED panels for a fill. A panel that can dial between 2700K to 6000K is incredibly helpful. Getting a halo effect by shooting the shady side is always a classic look. I wish I could add to what Simon said but he covered all of my favorite techniques and more.

[JohnJones-pekj]

Simon !! Such economy of words to convey so much detail. When I combine what you presented with the points
made by those who leave additional information, your 9
minute video becomes a one to two hour study/practice session.
Thanks for all your support and information.

[tofu]

Literally you don’t know how much you’ve helped everyone. Like literally you don’t know..and that’s what’s great about you. On behalf of everyone. Thank you!m so much!!! ❤🙏🏻

[simonketteniss]

Your backlit photos look stunning. One inexpensive tool that I bring to every sunny photoshoot is a diffusor/reflector combo. I have an assistant hold the diffusor over my model, or bounce light up into the shadows with the reflector. Turns out great!

[chris]

Thank you. Your tips are brilliant. And your great talent is that you don’t just repeat “truths “ learnt from others but understand the rationale behind them and are able to pass that on.

[the-additional-f-stop]

I love shooting silhouettes of birds a lot! I often convert the shots to black and white for a different effect. Thank you Simon for a wonderful channel and great contributions to the photography community!

[fernandocardenas]

Wow!!! Thank you Simon, this video opens a new door for me, since I shoot ONLY in the 'golden hour, " a very very narrow window of time, not that doesn't even last one hour LOL My photography has grown since I started following you, and gratitude is owed to you. My warmest regards for you and your loved ones! 🙏

[Pwndbythnb]

I tried taking pictures in a shady area but I got mugged

[Noahs_Photography]

I would suggest shooting film in harsh light, it thrives in these conditions since overly bright highlights don’t pose the same problem to a negative that they do to a digital sensor.
Great video Simon!

[labhusky]

Simon, your videos are bringing new life into my photography. I only recently found your channel (good timing after getting a camera again) and the quick and beautiful lessons in every video for every skill level is incredible. Your seemingly obvious to the pros tip about shooting in the shade with a sunlit background was such a Eureka moment for me and that's just from this video!

[BanookCanoeKayak]

Thank you for all the videos like this. As a volunteer photographer called into action each Summer to catch the action on Lake Banook, your tips have greatly improved the quality over the last couple of years. Midday sun, water glare, fast action, rapid weather changes, moving shooting platforms, and limited time to position all provide for some challenging days to get everything just right. Blowing out the highlights of the water has been a creative decision now and again in favour of getting the detail/sharpness of the paddlers. Keep up the great work, and if you are ever in the area or looking for a field trip idea for one of your classes, let us know!

[TLK]

You are my favorite photography teacher on YouTube. I'm also Canadian but moved to Thailand a decade ago. I'm just back from climbing Kilimanjaro and a 5-day safari where I took incredible wildlife pictures! The sun was very harsh and challenging at times especially at the Ngorongoro Crater where there is no shade at all. It's best to take photos early in the morning or late in the day but not always possible when traveling on a tight schedule.

[TeddyCavachon]

A very good set of tips.

My first photography related job back in the early 70s was assisting wedding photographer Monte Zucker where I learned his technique of using a flash over the camera for fill with a second overlapping off camera flash to record a full range of detail by matching lighting ratio to range of print or digital sensor. I’ve used the same dual flash technique ever since, always carrying a pair of Canon flashes in my bag.

Outdoors for human portraits my I use white and black towels on a stand were the subject will stand to set exposure, using the direct sun as a back rim / hair light but keeping the white highlights illuminated by the sun below clipping. Before flash is added the front of the white towel (or a white wedding dress) will be middle gray and shadow detail lost in the black one. The next step is to adjust fill flash power until the shadows lit by north sky + fill flash have the desired detail in the darkest parts of the black towel, then add the off axis key light to bring the highlights in hits on the front of the white towel up to where they need to be, which is 240 - 245, slightly darker than the 250 sunlit white fabric, which is slightly darker than the 255 rim lit areas creating three levels of tonal separation and texture in the highlights. This becomes very predictable and repeatable if flashes on are used at the same power and distances. A old pro trick is to tie a string with a knot at the correct distance to the base of each flash a be able to repeat the same exposure.

Something to be aware shooting faces outdoors the high angle of the skylight will cause the brows to shade the eyes. That is remedied by having the subjects look up above the horizon 20 or so degrees to get the skylight into the eyes then shoot from a short ladder to keep face parallel with sensor and create a slight, flattering foreshortening of the body. The sky light from the north will also have direction and create shadow so to avoid a muddled lighting pattern on the face I’ll first pose it to the light as I would if using a north facing window, then place the off camera “key” flash so it hits the face at the same angle creating the same modeling. The results look similar to a key:fill:rimlight studio lit shot.

Fur and feathers have millions of flat facets which are what creates the illusion of texture when they reflect specular highlights. While direct sun in the face makes humans squint to doesn’t affect animals and flat sunlight hitting fur and feathers and creating those highlights will add texture and detail. Adding flash to back lit shots has the same effect. Even if the flash is too far from the subject to affect exposure it will still add those texture revealing specular highlight clues.