Shooting into the light

[Donald]

If you're anything like me (therefore I am sorry for you ), you'll have often thought about into-the-light pics, but never really gone out of your way to search out possibilities. Well, I spent a bit of time doing that yesterday.

It presents a good challenge in terms of exposure.

With this one, the sun kept dipping in and out from behind those heavy clouds. Higher up (out of frame) the clouds were less thick and the sun was able to make an appearance. I didn't want full sun - that would have made the dynamic range too great. Nor did I want shade as that would have killed the effect. It needed to be just as the sun was emerging from heavy cloud and was in that lighter stuff at the edges.

I was reasonably pleased with this. Your thoughts and comments will be welcomed.

Storm whipping up on Elie Beach

[Shadowman]

I tried an into the light shot here Border, it's something that just catches your eye and you try to capture it as cleanly as possible. I've seen many scenes where the light strikes the water as you've captured and it is something worthy of undertaking. Nicely seen and captured.

[rpcrowe]

Donald,

Shooting into the light can propose some difficult exposure and flare problems.

Luckily, DSLR camera can bracket exposures and I suggest that a photographer might benefit from the bracketing "safety net".

Flare is another problem that can plague images shot into the sun. Using the correct lens hood can prevent some flare. Shading the camera/lens will also help to mitigate flare.

I was shooting into a canyon in Utah late one afternoon in order to get a specific shot that was only available at that time of day. Even using a lens hood, I still experienced bad flare problems so I took off my broad brimmed Aussie Stockman's hat and shaded the camera/lens which helped.

After that, I found a neat little gadget called Pro Bella which is a small umbrella that can be attached to the tripod socket of a camera (even when the camera is mounted on a tripod) and positioned to provide shade to the lens. This leaves both hands free to handle my camera. Unfortunately I cannot find this gadget anymore (I purchased it from eBay) but there are umbrellas available with clamps which are designed for beach chairs but which can be used on tripods.

OTOH: on a blustery and windy day (quite usual in the canyon-lands of the U.S. Southwest) an umbrella attached to a tripod might cause the pod to move. Perhaps, my stockman's hat is the best idea after all. Besides I always have it with me when shooting in the bright sun.

[Geoff F]

Always a difficult subject, Donald, I have produced so many total failures with this type of scene.

My only negative thoughts are that the sky is beginning to look a little on the noisy side. When faced with this potential problem I often do two conversions from the same raw file, with more noise reduction on one copy, then the usual merging with a mask.

Also the foreground is just starting to appear a fraction on the soft side.

[Tony M]

Nicely done and lovely exposure. Is the grain in the sky a result of the exposure, or the PP?

The horizon is aligned nicely according to the golden ratio. Given the strong weight of the brightness in the sea, a lesser amount of the dark sky would result in an unbalanced composition.

Tony

[flashback]

Donald, firstly I think you succeeded quite well. Those into-the-sun shots are never easy and quite often doomed to failure. Like John (above) we all take a shot at it. When (or if) we succeed we have an interesting shot. I think you succeeded nicely. My 'only' criticism is that to my eye your horizon needs a couple of degrees rotation clockwise.

[TonyW]

I like this a lot. The contrasting textures of the sky and water are good.

Without claiming to be like you, I have tried shooting into the sun with occasional success. There are challenges with the exposure but they are less with black and white.

[NorthernFocus]

I love this one, Donald. You did good

[Brev00]

I think it is absolutely fine as regards exposure and impact. I would prefer a wider crop but that is a personal thing.

[Donald]

Thank you for taking the time to comment.

My 'only' criticism is that to my eye your horizon needs a couple of degrees rotation clockwise.

Jack - I think if you put a line on it you'll find that it is dead-on. I took great care with that one. Just re-checked it ... just in case.

Is the grain in the sky a result of the exposure, or the PP?

I put it a very slight grain in there, Tony. Wanted to give a bit of 'edginess' to it. Not everyone will like it.

I would prefer a wider crop but that is a personal thing.

I'm sure you'll have seen before, Larry, that I do a lot of stuff in a 1:1 (Square) ratio. It's a format I like working with. And I compose the picture for that (luckily my cameras allow me to set the viewfinder view to square, so that what you see here is exactly what I saw at the time of capture, so far as composition is concerned). Some folks would indeed, like to see more of a traditional landscape view. It's one of those personal choice things. One way is not better or worse, or right or wrong.

[Tony M]

I put it a very slight grain in there, Tony. Wanted to give a bit of 'edginess' to it. Not everyone will like it.

I like it. I was just worried that your camera was noisy.

[george013]

Thank you for taking the time to comment.


Jack - I think if you put a line on it you'll find that it is dead-on. I took great care with that one. Just re-checked it ... just in case.


I put it a very slight grain in there, Tony. Wanted to give a bit of 'edginess' to it. Not everyone will like it.


I'm sure you'll have seen before, Larry, that I do a lot of stuff in a 1:1 (Square) ratio. It's a format I like working with. And I compose the picture for that (luckily my cameras allow me to set the viewfinder view to square, so that what you see here is exactly what I saw at the time of capture, so far as composition is concerned). Some folks would indeed, like to see more of a traditional landscape view. It's one of those personal choice things. One way is not better or worse, or right or wrong.

When I look at the picture on max size and scroll up the top of the picture to the bottom of the adress bar, then the top of the picture is on the left site higher as on the right site. You can't do anything on that.
When I scroll the horizon to the bottom of the adress bar, then the right site is higher as the left site. Together they strengthen the idea of not being in level.
I noticed that before in other, mine too, images. I don't have an explanation for that at the moment.

I like the picture. Shooting into the light can give some wonderful results.

George

[Davejl]

I like this a lot, composition and processing. I also agree with others who say it is not quite level: on the iPad, moving the photo up to meet the top border of the scrolling area, the right side of the sea hits this a bit before the left side, so a very slight clockwise rotation seems necessary.

[IzzieK]

Just as a matter of interest Donald -- did you use any sort of polarizer here to achieve this beautiful shot?

[Donald]

Just as a matter of interest Donald -- did you use any sort of polarizer here to achieve this beautiful shot?

No, Izzie. No filters at all.

[Donald]

Very grateful to Jack (flashback) for contacting me via another route and showing that I am indeed slightly off on the horizon. Thanks, Jack.

[george013]

Very grateful to Jack (flashback) for contacting me via another route and showing that I am indeed slightly off on the horizon. Thanks, Jack.

Was that a different way as what Davejl and I told you?

George

[Donald]

Was that a different way as what Davejl and I told you?

George

Just as you said, George.

[Mike Buckley]

I reviewed this photo when you first posted it and intentionally decided to wait a couple days to revisit it before coming to any relatively final thoughts about it. Though it's a nice image, for me it doesn't measure up to the extremely high quality of most of your other images. I think it "needs" the lighthouse to hold my attention, which says a lot about the other 98% of the image.

[Mike Buckley]

Just as a matter of interest Donald -- did you use any sort of polarizer here to achieve this beautiful shot?

The only purpose for using a polarizer in this situation is to be able to prevent light from entering the lens, which is done to be able to use a slower shutter speed while not changing the exposure. That's because the polarizer has no polarizing effect when the sun is so directly facing the lens.