Does anyone have any suggestions on how to shoot in bright daylight?

I recently had an assignment where I needed to photograph a person (from about the waist up) and a particular side of a building. The person needed to be prominent in the foreground, while this particular side of the building needed to serve as the background. The time of day needed to be 3 p.m. The sky was clear and the sun was still pretty intense because it was only 3 p.m.

Other than changing the time of day so that the sunlight isn't so strong, is there any good way (such as camera settings or other lighting techniques) to go about shooting this?

Will the building be lit by sun or shade? The person? The beauty here is you can control them independently with flash on the subject, especially if you can shade them and control the light yourself. Often we will use a diffuser to shade the subject from direct light, then use flash to light them to match (or darken or lighten) the background.

Both the building and subject were in direct sunlight. Unfortunately, no shade was available.

you can shade the subject a large diffusion flat or even a reflector placed over head will work. You'll need some specialized gear or an assistant to do this

Well, it's not easy offering solutions without specific details such as:

Direction of light in relation to subject
Distance of subject from building
Obstructions that limited perspective
Lens selection or choice

There are multiple ways to approach a problem like this. Do you have an image you can refer us to?

I'd post the photo, but I don't have a release from the company. The sun was still hanging pretty high and was direct on the building and the subject. The subject was several yards from the building. The building is about three stories high, so I used a Canon 10-22 to get to get it in the frame.

I'd like some tips on this too, but from the standpoint of outdoor weddings. If it's two or three o'clock and full sun, what do you guys do? I can't really hang a diffusion flat over their heads during the ceremony! Fill flash just isn't enough to combat the harsh shadows, I'm afraid. I try to find an angle with good light but I'm usually limited by trying not to be the focus of attention.

This is similar to the situation I ran into. Are there any tips on how to tackle this scenario?

well, the camera is only a limited tool that can record what light is there. if the light available isn't good, you have to change the light. that means either changing the existing light (ie, diffusers, shade, etc), or adding additional light to compliment or overpower the existing light (reflectors or flashes).

In the situation with the building, you could have either had an assistant hold a large reflector pointed at the subject or used flashes to over power the sun (evaluate the light for the building, and then use flash to create the right light on the subject). In a really tight situation you can (and i don't recommend this) take one photo exposed for the building, and one photo exposed for the subject, and digitally piece them together in photoshop. Unless the photos are exactly the same (ie, the subject doesn't move an inch) and you're an expert at photoshop...this is likely to look amateur and take a lot of your time.

In the case of the wedding, there really isn't much you can do except expose properly for the bride & groom and say to heck with the rest of the photo. fill flash is sometimes an option, but not always. same with shade, clouds, and moving around. sometimes you just have to realize that you only have control of so much. make sure to get awesome portraits when you do have control of the light, and just go with the flow!

one thing that I personally need to do more of is consulting with the client ahead of time about what lighting and time of day is really conducive to getting the best photos, and trying to create a better situation ahead of time.

Okay with my experience it has always been the 70-200mm.. It seems to me that outdoors a longer focal length is more flattering. SO definitely the 70-200mm. Also I think that shooting with maybe a -1 contrast setting may assist you. Just a couple of tips.

Thanks

If you can't reschedule...

I would set my exposure to make the building look right with sunlight. Then I would shade the subject and light him with flash to match the sun on the building.

In a wedding situation where I can't change anything I will usually spot meter and expose for the bride and groom's face in most pictures. I'll shoot a lot of tight shots, trying to maneuver myself into a spot where nothing in the frame is too bright or dark, then I'll shoot some wide angle shots of the whole scene where any blown out or super dark areas are only a small part of the frame.

I know its a bit of a fiddly suggestion...

but could you shoot the building... then shoot them as a high key / chroma-key elsewhere and then paste them into the scene in Photoshop? obviously the lighting needs to be similar (direction of lights etc)

good luck with it all

run and hide till the clouds come out.....

I luv ya Tami...

We get stuck shooting in bright sunlight in CO a lot. Yes, move to better light, but it sounds like you didn't have that option. I'd say minus a gaggle of equipment to modify a lot of light... it's about posing really well to either evenly light or dramatically light the face.

sounds like a commercial assignment...i think, the best way to deal with this is, if you have the time:

skrim or shade the subject
use a flash to fill in the subject to match the exposure on the building.

if the face is already in shaddow, you might not have to skrim the subject.


the other way to deal with this is to work out the time of shooting so it is a better situation.

The best way is to have an someone hold a diffuser over the subject, but if you don't have someone or stuck in a spot where time is a factor. Nikon and Cannon both offer a thing called High Speed flash sync. High speed flash sync will allow you to use a wider aperture with a faster flash sync. I think it goes up to 1/5000 of a second or even faster. Anyways I bring this up, if you are going to have the harsh shadows, might as well try to soften them. The flash really won't effect your highlights, the sun will take care of that. But it will have a effect on the shadow side. Remember you are competing with the sun. So you can't be to far the subject, those flashes only are about 75 watts.

Second thought, if you are shooting alone, get a lightstand and configure it to hold a reflector. You could always set up the reflector to soften the shadows and shoot then. Just some ideas.

Thanks everyone. Holding a diffuser or shade over my subject would have been a big help. Any suggestions on a particular one? I tried looking at B&H, but didn't have much luck.

The 5 in 1 reflectors have a diffuser as the base circle (you zip the covers over for black/white/silver/gold) such as:


I had a look on b&h - youre probably looking at the translucent or diffusion reflectors, although there are some 5in1's on there under Kits

Thanks, Erinna! That's a huge help!

I would suggest lighting the subject with a strobe powerful enough to over power the ambient light.

depending on what aperture you're wanting to use will determine how powerful the strobe needs to be.

This is my first time posting! I too quail at the thought of the sun. Here in Western Australia, we have very bright, hot sun and no clouds. Unfortunately daylight savings are being introduced, so we never get any dimming light. Wedding season is also summer time - so what does one do? I'm learning that fill-in flash and using the reflector is just really the only thing one can do. I have the reflector that Erinna has shown in previous post - bought on Ebay for $33AUD. I also absolutely agree with the "Storyteller" (and have you seen his website, it's gorgeous! ) a long lens is essential with a wide apeture.

On the subject of 5-in-1 diffuser/reflector disks, get a large one, i personally use a 42" disc from Calumet http://www.calumetphoto.com which cost me roughly 30 bucks. Very high quality, better than anything you'll find on ebay, and cheaper than most of the good ones they sell on B&H (although I love B&H for 99% of everything else!)

best of luck

(EDIT)

Okay, roughly 40 bucks... here's a link. These are fantastic reflectors! http://www.calumetphoto.com/item/RM4040K/

Ditto. I use either high speed sync (dialed down to -2 usually) to fill in the shadows, or I have an assistant hold a big diffuser (a 5-in-1 reflector with a silk diffuser core) over them... in your case, with needing to get the building in the shot and not just the subject, your best bet is high speed sync.