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Become SUNLIGHT

Let the Sun ShineDon’t be afraid to shoot when there’s not a cloud in the sky words and photographs by wendy laurel

i was born loving the sun. I grew up sailing and living at the beach in the summer. Beach scenes fill our old photo albums, including photos of the young me with my bright blond, curly hair and sunburned nose.

When I got older and in charge of my own life, I headed for the beach full time. Hawaii was just my style — shorts year round, blue skies, blue water, and lots of sun. It makes me happy. I love to see the sun streaming through my windows

and lots of blue in the sky. Yet when I started in photography about 10 years ago, I avoided the sun. Advice was stuck in my head: “A cloudy day is the best for photography — it’s like a giant soft box,” and “avoid midday sun.” It dictated my photography. I sought shade and colored walls (I still loved color). And I hated shooting at the beach — all that wide-open space with no shade.

But then I started taking clients who wanted to shoot in the sun on the beach. Eventually I fell

in love with the sun in my photos. Nowadays I’m not scared of the sun. I can shoot any time of day and be happy. I am sun-dependent now. I use it to create mood, feeling and beauty; the sun is almost a second subject in my images. I feel lost on a cloudy day.

There are a ton of ways to use light and sunshine in your photographs. I can only talk about the ways I use the sun, mainly through backlight, full sun, flare, and underwater.

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SUNLIGHTBecome

The Glow of BacklightMy most used trick is backlighting. I can backlight someone at the beach at any time of the day. Maybe there is one minute where the sun is directly overhead, but even by 12:05 that sun is at an angle. As long as someone’s face is in the shade, I have got great lighting for a portrait. The sand on the beach is noth-ing but a giant reflector, so I position the subjects with the sun behind them or to the side, their faces in the shade. Yes, even at midday I can do this. I expose for the face and let the rest fall where it may. This creates a beautiful portrait with light all around for a glowy look. Backlighting people gives me the freedom to shoot whenever I want, not just at “golden hour.”

“I AM SUN-DEPENDENT NOW.I use it to create mood, feeling and beauty; the sun is almost a second subject in my images. I feel lost on a cloudy day.”

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Full SunNothing is prettier to me than a bright blue sky and the bright blues of the ocean. To capture those colors, I like to shoot with the sun behind me. It does mean the harsh sunlight falls directly onto my subject’s face, but that’s easy to correct: I can 1) have her close her eyes; 2) lift her head to embrace the sun; 3) turn her face away from the camera; 4) lie on the ground and shoot up at my subject. I don’t always need the subject’s face looking right at the camera for a beautiful portrait. For full-sun shots, I use the sunny 16 rule or turn my light meter toward the sun to capture the rating.

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Pieces of FlareMy hands-down favorite use of the sun — flare. I’d always heard that flare on film is bad. It’s not pretty. Don’t do it. But I never do what people tell me. I started shooting straight at the sun. I started experimenting. I knew many of the shots wouldn’t turn out, but I got some great surprises. In any situation, a great rule is to 1) do the safe shot; 2) push it a little to let some creativity in and go for a risky shot; 3) do something utterly crazy and against all the rules. I’m a No. 3 girl. Find what you like when you view the results.

But there are definitely some ground rules for flare. First, it always works better if you can partially hide the sun behind something — some

trees, subjects’ heads or bodies. It directs the flare better. And yes, to do that, the sun needs to be lower in the sky, and here we are back at the golden hour or early in the morning (my personal favorite). You can also shoot up at the sun; don’t be afraid to lie down and shoot up for that flare.

Second, having the sun enter the lens at a slant will get you better results. The angle helps to ensure the flare won’t wash out the entire im-age. Of course, try breaking this rule as well.

And lastly, not all lenses are created equal. Some lenses produce better flare than others. My Rollei sort of sucks at flare (but I love it any-way), but my Mamiya c330 gives me a rainbow

flare if I’m lucky, and my Canon 24mm L lens is so good with sun. My best advice? Don’t play it safe, experiment and experiment some more. Experiment even on client images. Get the safe shot, then push yourself. You never know.

When shooting into the sun, you want to ex-pose the way you usually do, for your subject’s face, and let the light fall as it will. As for focus-ing, autofocus usually doesn’t work well in this situation. I prefer to manually focus so I have control. Some photographers put a hand up to block the sun, use the autofocus on the camera, and then put their hand down to shoot — do whatever works for you.

“MY BEST ADVICE? Don’t play it safe, experiment and experiment some more.”

SUNLIGHTBecome

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Diving UnderwaterOne last thing to mention. When I shoot underwater, I only do so on a sunny day. I want blue water and I need light underwater. I forget about backlighting and turn my subject toward the sun. That might mean the sun is behind me or it might mean my subject has her face lifted upward toward the sun. You need all the light you can get under the water, the water acts to soften the sun’s rays and eliminate any harshness. The images come out with a watercolor softness and gorgeous colors.

As my husband likes to say to me, “Don’t be scared.” That sun is your friend. Be glad it’s a fully sunny day. Experiment, do things you think you shouldn’t, and use the sun in all the ways possible. Happy Summer!

Wendy’s Gear: Rollieflex SL66 and Contax 645AF medium-format cameras, Carl Zeiss 80mm Planar T* f/2.8 CB lens and Kodak Professional Ektar 100 film.

Wendy is a film photographer living in Maui, Hawaii. She photographs

families and weddings and loves shooting in the sunshine. See more of her work at wendylaurel.com/blog. Wendy founded

and runs Let the Kids Dress Themselves, a blog devoted to creative and honest

family photography and part of the Clickin Moms family. letthekids.com.

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