Shooting into the sun

[mandab99]

Well my and my girls went and done our little afternoon photoshoot and I was quite happy with some of my final images as they were exactly how I had pictured them. One of my faves was actually taken in full auto mode when we first got there, I wanted to see what settings the camera would choose.
I didnt have any problem shooting into the sun and just made sure it was always just out of the frame so I didnt end up with any sunflare in any of my images only a lovely soft haze which was what I had wanted. When I shot in manual mode I ended up using partial metering on my girls faces and overexposing by approx 1 3/4 stops, no flash needed.
I have posted some of the images in the members photos critique forum if anyone wants a nosey.

[Bear Dale]

I've tried shooting into the sun a few times.

[zollo]

A decent start for shooting into the sun is - meter your exposure for the subject that you want correctly exposed in the frame, and ignore the sun.

[amsm]

Don't forget, all the things that people have mentioned as downsides of shooting into the sun can also be used to great effect, provided they are intentional. Some of my favourite shots have been silhouettes, had massive lens flare or blown out backgrounds. Sometimes, that has even been intentional

[ricktas]

Another thing to add, you can get away with shooting into the sun with a wide angle lens, more than you can with a telephoto. The wide angle makes the sun a much smaller element in the scene and as Jim's photos above show, leave you with a lot of interest. But lens flare is the trade off. Lens flare is not inherently bad, in itself, but it can ruin a good shot if it is over powering.

[dbose]

Another thing that I often do is to use a 9 or above stop ND filter. This obviously lets limited light in and results in a longer exposure. If done correctly the sun comes out with rays all around it without being blown out. Ofcourse this is best done when the sun is low rather than up high with its full glory.

[n11smo]

i use a thousand oaks solar filter....

+1

[skanker08]

Can you damage your eye when looking through a dslr viewfinder when the sun is in frame?

[OzzieTraveller]

G'day S08

Can you damage your eye when looking through a dslr viewfinder when the sun is in frame?

It would be 'unlikey' with wide-angle lenses where things become smaller than full-size, and my answer would be a definite 'yes' - esp with any tele lens where ethe sun is bigger & brighter than normal

The job of the dSLR viewfinder is to show you at a full 100% what the lens is seeing - there is no electronic intervention as there is with electronic viewfinders in the other type of cameras [where the v/f can lighten & darken according to the brightness of the scene being viewed]

I would be comfortable with viewing a sunset thru a 200-300mm lens, but I wouldn't leave my eye at the v/f for much longer than the time it took to focus & compose

Hope this helps ...
Regards, Phil

[skanker08]

Thanks for the reply Phil, I thought it must be reasonably safe as you say minimizing time spent with sun in frame (due to the number of shots that abound with sun in view) but its always made me a little nervous believe it or not.

Cheers, Mick