If you love outdoors, you might have faced the same dilemma we often face: how to get a perfect shot in the strong sunlight?

When we travel with our kids, or on a tour, sometimes it’s inevitable we will be out in the middle of the day. The sun is right above you, and casts a strong shadow on your face. It’s typically the worst hour to take photos.

But you are right in front of an epic viewpoint, and you possibly won’t come here often, how could you bypass the photo opportunity just because the light is not right?

Check out the video below for my 5 simple tips on how to photograph people in the strong sunlight.

So here are my 5 tips.

1 - Find The Shade

This is usually your best option if it’s available. You want a diffused soft light under the trees or in a shaded area.

2 - Do Closeup

When your subject faces away from the sun, do a closeup shot of the face, you’d most likely get an even exposure and avoid the ugly shadows.

Please note, make sure your subject’s face is not half in the sun and half in the shade, or it doesn’t matter how close up you are, you’ll still get that ugly shadow on the face or the squint.

If your subjects are young children with unpredictable moves, it’s much easier to do closeups with a telescope lens, so you can stay away from them when they are just being themselves.

If you use a mid-range zoom lens, such as 24-70mm, try to walk up as close to your subject as possible, or you might get an under-exposed face or over-exposed background if the background is much brighter than your subject. We’ll discuss metering approach for such situations later so you can get the right exposure.

I typically wouldn’t suggest wide angle lens for your close up shots. Do you know iPhone or many smart phones have wide angle lenses? That means if you want to do close ups with your smart phone, you’d better hold it really, really, close to the face.

3 - Do Far Away Shot

This is the complete opposite of the above.

When you do the far away shot, the subject appears small in the frame. Subsequently, the shadow will be small and less distracting.

The environment or the context, together with your subject, becomes more important in your story telling.

This doesn’t mean you simply photograph anything your camera can frame, be methodical about your composition. Check out my long advocated Less is More Composition Tips.

4 - Faceless Shot

Perhaps another easy solution, and one of my favorites, especially if you photograph children and try to capture the candid moments.

5 - Angle Up Or Down

You might find angling up a lot harder than angling down when your subject is a child. Vice versa, you might find angling down a lot harder when you photograph someone much taller than you.

It requires some practice, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll create a whole new set of interesting photos, not seen from the typical eye level.

Notice that in both situations, the subject is looking down, facing away from the sun.

I’m not suggesting you to have the subject look up into the sun. This approach might work for adults if they have a coordinated effort with you, to open their eyes when you click the shutter, or just have the eyes closed. When photographing children, this approach is almost a guaranteed failure.

In most cases, you might be able to combine several approaches above. While I’d be hesitant to say there are endless solutions to photograph in the harsh sun light, there are enough options for you to get around and create unique and memorable photos.

Go back to Natural Light Chapter

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