Considering today was a beautiful sunny, clear skied day, I thought it would be quite relevant to post a blog on shooting in sunlight.
When I started shooting I always thought shooting on sunny days would be the best, but I soon realised it created some problems.
Some things to think about and work arounds.
Just because you are shooting in sunlight doesn't mean you don't have to light the scene properly. Bringing a reflector, a big piece of white card or even a LED light (if you have access to one) can be a great help and make a huge difference You can use them as a fill or back light, just to enhance the overall look of the shot. Reflectors can be very cheap and are a great way to manipulate light you already have on a set.
This next problem was never a problem I though I would have. When shooting outdoors on a sunny day, it is possible to have too much light. This can always be solved in camera by increasing your shutter speed and lowering you aperture to F 22 or lower. You can leave you ISO on its lowest and you now have a perfectly exposed shot. The problem is you have now lost all control with Depth of Field and Motion Blur, meaning you are left with a shot that has no depth of field and no motion blur ( Can be great for Wide or Establishing shots).
You may be wondering how to combat this? Well the answer is simple, you can buy a "ND filter" ( Neutral Density) for you lens (you can think of this by "sunglasses for your camera") This filter lowers the amount of light entering the lens, meaning you can increase your aperture and shutter speed to get the desired effect you want in the shot. Different ND filters have different levels of exposure reductions so it might be a good idea to have more than one. You can also by variable ND filters which are more expensive but allow you to change the amount of reduction the filter is producing.
Another thing to watch out for is shadows, if you have a long outdoor shoot, you will end up fighting against the moving shadows. This can also be the case if clouds are moving and blocking the sun every now and again. A solution would be to shoot in shade or stageically place your talent and shoot smartly. Whilst on about clouds, it may be better to shoot on a overcast day, this will stop the problem of moving clouds and shadows, the clouds work as a giant diffuser!
