Place in the sun

One of the rules for portrait photography is that you shouldn’t shoot people in direct sunlight. Without clouds to diffuse it, the light from the sun is very hard-edged. We’re likely to get strong, unsightly shadows over the face, squinting subjects and greasy hot spots on the skin. The light is often at its most challenging at midday. As such, many photographers would put the camera away, wait for cloud cover, or come back at the magic hour. However, the sun can be a wonderful light source if we know how to work the angles and manipulate light.

The main challenge with direct sunlight is the strong contrast it creates. The difference between the brightest and darkest part of the subject is so great that the shadows can look very