Capturing summer
Today is summer solstice (21 June), the longest day of the year. So long as the weather holds – and remember, this is around the time of the Glastonbury Festival and Wimbledon – the longest day gives give snappers across the UK some 16 hours, 38 minutes and 22 seconds of sunlight.
Summer is the season of light, so we’ve put together a guide on how to best capture the month in all its colourful glory.
Light relief
With so many hours of sunlight to play with in summer make sure you shoot when the sun is low – either in the morning or evening. This is especially important when photographing people, as a high sun may make them squint. Also, the sun is more camera-friendly in the morning and evening, with warmer colours and shadows to get creative with. Sunsets are long and linger in summer so make the most of them. Remember not to cast your own shadow over the subject, mind!
Use the sun cleverly. With the sun head on you can fully illuminate your subject, while from the side you can create an air of mystery with shadows. Using the sun behind the subject you can create either a silhouette or a back-lit effect. This works particularly well with natural aspects such as leaves, flowers and trees.
Sunlight can be hard to handle, so look into using UV and polarising filters, lens hoods and exposure settings to overcome any unwanted glare. You’ll have more overall control in sunny conditions if you use the manual setting on your SLR rather than the automatic. Do you have spot metering on your camera? Check the manual to see how this could help.
Composition
It’s summer so think about seasonal themes, especially if you’re taking pictures to sell on microstock sites such as Polylooks think about quirky images that really encapsulate summer such as ice creams or ball games. Think about using colour as much as possible, that’s what people want from summer – something upbeat and fun. Use people and smiles are always popular. If you’re taking an atmospheric shot remember the golden rule – keep the horizon straight! There’s nothing worse than seeing the sea at an unnatural slant! If you’re really happy with a picture but not with the angle you can use photo editing software to resolve it.
If you’re looking for inspiration, why not visit Polylooks.co.uk and use the intuitive filters to see our nearly 50,000-strong photo collection tagged as ‘summer’. However you spend it, have a great summer with your camera!
