I’m sure you have witnessed those situations, where people wanting to take a portrait of someone else place their subject to have the sun shining directly onto them. Because it looks nice. Objects look sharp, crisp and colorful when the sun shines on them. That’s definitely valid for landscapes, buildings and stationary things. It’s less favorable for human beings. Because they tend to squint when facing the sun, and you get unfavorable shadows in their eye sockets, especially when the sun is high.
It’s much for flattering when you place your human subjects with their backs to the sun. The lighting on their face is more even, and you get this wonderful rim light around their body and especially around their hair. You just have to make sure you take your exposure metering directly from their faces in order to achieve natural skin tones. Try it next time, it’s much simpler than you think.
The photograph was taken with my Olympus OM-D E-M1X and the mZuiko 12-100mm F/4.
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Have a great Thursday!
Marcus
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