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14 - BRIGHT SUNLIGHT


Lovely as it is, bright sunlight makes it nigh-on impossible to expose your footage correctly. But there are a few tricks you can try in the midday sun.

  • If you’re filming a person, seek shade and try to find a shady background too. Or create your own shade using an umbrella.

  • If you have a light, try filming into the sun while lighting the subject from the front. If you don’t have a light, find something reflective that can bounce light back on to the subject.

  • Moving further back and zooming in on your subject will let in less light.

  • Check the ISO settings to make sure that they are as low as possible and reduce the aperture. Use a lens hood to avoid lens flares. A polariser or ND filter attached to the front of the lens will have the same effect as putting sunglasses on.

  • Some smartphone camera apps allow you to alter exposure. On the iPhone iOS 8, tap on the preview to bring up the focus point; when the sun icon appears, tap and hold to bring up a fine-tuning slider.

  • Finally, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. When your exposure just won’t behave itself, try using the bright sunlight to create interesting and intriguing silhouettes instead.
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