Taking photos in sunny weather

Recently the weather in the UK has been great with the sun shining and the temperatures fairly warm. You might think that it’s a perfect time to get out and take photos, which is somewhat true. The harsh sunlight can cause issues and make it hard to get some great snaps. 

Here's a few pointers to get you started when out and about in the sunny weather. 

Don’t snap into the sun

Snapping photos into the sun can be blinding when trying to take the photo, and will often produce some kind of flare which you may not want in the photo. Your photo may also end up over exposed. If you do decide to shoot into the sun, try blocking some of or most of the direct sunlight with a subject. 

Snapping into the sun could also damage your camera or eyes, so be careful if you do decide to take some snaps into direct sunlight. 

Find shade

Find some shade and use it to your advantage, even in the shade the sun will be fairly bright and produce some well lit photos. Face your subject out of the sun, where in one shot it may be too bright, moving slightly and positioning yourself better the lightning might be just right.  

Things such as buildings and trees can create some even shade for your photos, if you don’t have anything that you can use as shade, create your own. If you’re out at the beach use an umbrella or surfboard in the shot to help create some shade. 

Use a lens hood

Some camera lenses come with a lens hood, this can be a great piece of equipment to use on your lens. It will stop the sunlight directly hitting the lens and stop the creation of lens flares. 

Wait

Sometimes it can be best to wait a bit for the sun to move or go down. This isn’t always possible but if you’re able to wait for a bit you may end up with better lighting for your photo rather if you’d just snapped it then and there. Granted you may be able to edit the photo to correct any lighting issues later on.

Settings

Try get your settings right, for a sunny day you would want to have your ISO at about 100, shutter speed 1/100 - 1/125 and your aperture fairly high around f/16 if it's really sunny and f/8 for overcast. 

These are just some settings to start from, and adjust as necessary for the weather conditions.