Variety with a low sun

Exercise: Variety with a low sun (Minimum 4 Photographs)

This exercise was to demonstrate some of the advantages of shooting when the sun is low in the sky.  I was to take a minimum of four photographs each with the sun in a different position in relation to the camera. The first with frontal lighting, i.e. the sun behind the camera, the second with the sun to the side, the third with back lighting, the sun behind the subject and finally with edge lighting. This is a special condition for shooting towards the sun, in which the sun is outside the viewfinder frame and the edge of the subject is lit. 

Ask any landscape photographer when is the best time of the day to take photographs? Their reply would most certainly be an hour or so after sunrise and an hour or so before sunset, the so called 'golden hour'. During these times the sun is low in the sky, therefore producing a soft diffused light which is much more photogenic than the harsh midday sun.

f16 @ 1/20 sec ISO 200

With the sun behind the camera, the trees are lit evenly with the low sun. The shadows from the beach parasols indicate how low the sun was. 

The sunlight travels thought more of the atmosphere at this time of day. The light appears more reddish as more of the blue light has been scattered.

The warm colour creates a pleasing scene. 

f6.3 @ 1/400 sec ISO 800

With the side to the left of the photograph, the sides of the building are thrown into shadow. The frontal area of the building is now highlighted with the low evening sun. 

The shadows from the balconies have created a pleasing scene of a relatively mundane tower block. 

If this same scene was photographed around midday the harsh light of the sun at that time of day would have created a bland photograph with no contrast.  

f16 @ 1/80 sec ISO 200

With the sun in front of the camera, I positioned the camera so that the branches of the tree obscured the sun in order to silhouette the outline of the tree and also to reduce lens flare to a minimum. 

Due to the fact the cameras sensor is looking directly into the sun, this can make for a tricky exposure. 

Therefore I took 3 photographs of this scene, one at 1/125 sec one at 1/100 sec and the one you see here at 1/80 sec. This method is called bracketing. This photograph taken at 1/80 sec, in my opinion is the best. It shows the dark silhouette of the tree but there is still enough light to illuminate the grass in the foreground.