
Is there a clear line of sight to the horizon? Or is there a reflective surface behind the silhouette which can be used to photograph the silhouette against it? You’re looking for a bright background that you can silhouette the entire object against.Which direction will you photograph this object from? Will you need to arrive in the morning or the evening so that the sun is behind this object when you photograph it?.Is this a person, or an architectural structure? Perhaps it’s a lone tree in the field. The first step is to decide which object you’ll silhouette.You need to plan your photo and choose the best angle to take that photo from. Getting the best silhouettes takes a little more nuance though. When you photograph against the sun you’ve always got a good chance of producing silhouettes. Choose a setting that allows you to take the photo handheld.Ĭlosing down the aperture allowed the sun to appear as a starburst in this photo.
#Staring at the sun photography iso#
The high ISO will increase the shutter speed. Either use a tripod or compensate for this slow shutter speed by using a high ISO. With a small aperture, and a high exposure value your shutter speed is likely to be low.The overexposure could be +2 or +3 exposure value. If you wish to see details in the foreground, you will need to overexpose. Photographing into the sun is likely to mean your photo produces silhouettes.
Apertures of f/11 and smaller should produce this effect.
This effect occurs when you close down the aperture of your lens. That means you’ll want to choose your lens accordingly. If your lens has an odd number, the number of spikes will be doubled. The number of sunburst spikes is determined by the number of arms your lens diaphragm has. This effect is caused by your lens diaphragm. Placing the sun behind the leaves of a tree is an ideal solution here. Too much of the sun, and it will overpower your frame. Too little and the starburst won’t be noteworthy. You’ll want to obscure the majority of the sun, but allow just the edge of the sun to be shining through. The time of day isn’t that important, but it’s easier to control this effect during golden hour and into sunset or from sunrise. Compose your photo, and aim towards the sun. It’s a more desirable effect though, and you have more control over how this effect occurs. The starburst effect is technically another aspect of lens flare. You can see this coming into the frame from the top left. There is a glow to this image caused by flare. You might also try holding your hand above the lens to block sunlight shining onto the lens. Should you wish to avoid this altogether, using a lens hood helps. Both of these effects can be used to your advantage to create a more artistic-looking photo. Alternatively, you can aim towards the sun, but keep the sun just out of frame.ĭoing this will result in two effects: You’ll see that your whole frame has a sunlight “glow,” or it’s highly likely you’ll also see a rainbow-like line that consists of arcs of light progressing across your frame. Instead, aim to use an object within the frame to obscure the sun. Unless your photographing a sunset or sunrise, directly pointing your camera at the sun is something you’ll want to avoid. In photography, there are a couple of other effects caused by flare that can be used by photographers. As the head is delicate, it won’t block the sun completely, but is instead brighter and also not silhouetted. In the case of a reed, they have a delicate head in the summer which picks up the sunlight. This is sometimes described as the effect seen when a plant such as a reed is lit up by the sun shining on the plant. One of the effects you may well see when photographing against the sun is flare. The sun is lighting up the muhly grass through flare. This photo is taken towards the sun not long after sunrise.