It’s spring, but with summer right around the corner and a heat wave here in Southern California, this week’s YouTube post highlights shooting in the bright sun. The sun can make our jobs as photographers more difficult, but it doesn’t have to be!

Check out these SLR Lounge YouTube video tutorials about shooting in the sun and check out the rest of our tutorials on everything photography.

1. THREE TIPS FOR BETTER NATURAL LIGHT PORTRAITS USING THE SUN

In this video, we cover basic tips on how to get consistent, flattering yet vibrant and dramatic portraits in almost any environment using a touch of sun for backlighting.

2. USING ND FILTERS TO CREATE MOTION BLUR IN BRIGHT SUN 

In this video, Matthew Saville describes the various methods and options available for creating a slow motion blur during bright sunny conditions. For anyone who knows the “Sunny Sixteen” rule, if your aperture is at f/16 then a perfect exposure at ISO 100 would be 1/100 sec, and a perfect exposure at ISO 400 would be 1/400 sec, and so on. However this image was created at f/13, ISO 100, and 2.0 seconds. To achieve this, it was necessary to use roughly 8 EV’s worth of exposure darkening, using filters.

3. UTILIZING SHADE ON AN ENGAGEMENT SHOOT

When shooting in a bright sunny condition, your best bet is to find a shaded area to shoot your couple and when shooting in shade, it is important to determine the direction of light in order to correctly pose the subjects. In this tutorial, we are going to give you a little quick tip on how you can use your hand to identify the direction of light.

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