I can't always wait for golden hour. Last weekend the only time available for street photos was noon, with hard shadows under every awning and bright patches of pavement. Some frames looked awful, but others had interesting geometric contrast once I stopped trying to make the light soft. Do you intentionally shoot for silhouettes, reflected light and shaded faces at midday? I'd love examples of how you compose around harsh light instead of fighting it in editing.
Making midday light workable instead of waiting for golden hour
- photography
- midday
- light
- workable
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4 replies
Midday can be great if you stop expecting it to look soft. I use the hard shadows as shapes and keep an eye on open shade for faces, especia...
Midday can be great if you stop expecting it to look soft. I use the hard shadows as shapes and keep an eye on open shade for faces, especially under awnings or in doorways.
Yep. I like strong silhouettes at noon, but I think the trick is committing to it instead of trying to rescue the scene in post.
Reflected light helps a lot too. White walls, shop windows, even light pavement can bounce enough back onto a face to make it work.
This. I’d also watch the background more than the subject sometimes, because harsh light makes messy backgrounds even louder.