For any videographer, knowing how light influences your images is key to creating great content. The good news is that you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on C-stands, key lights, or fill flashes. All you need is your camera, a few basic tips, and a bit of sunshine. Sunshine on Your Shoulders
Understanding how daylight and weather influence your subject is important to achieving a number of desired effects. Here are some examples:
Midday sunshine, characterized as having high-contrast neutral-colored light, can cause harsh shadows on portraits, but is great for making water appear more transparent:
If you’re shooting under the bright mid-day sun, look for some shade:
Hammock footage ©Wolfgang Amri
The Golden Hour – the hour before sunset and after sunrise – will give your footage warm hues and long shadows. The nearly horizontal angle of the sun can make for some eye-popping content:
Wheat-field footage ©Wolfgang Amri
Twilight is the hour directly before sunrise or after sunset. When the sun is below the horizon, the colors become soft and cool, and impart a tranquil mood:
London Skyline footage ©Pawel Libera
Even when you’re interrupted by an overcast day, there are still outdoor shooting options. The bright, diffused sunlight of a cloudy day imparts a cool tone with low contrast, which will bring out great details in portraiture and wildlife:
I Can See Clearly Now
Before shooting your subject, it’s a good idea to check your settings. One of the most essential settings is white balance. White balancing will tell your camera what should appear white in your image, and what’s white under florescent lights is very different from what’s white in bright sunshine.
The light source’s color temperature will determine this, but cameras can have difficulty interpreting the relative coolness or warmness of white light. While many models are equipped with auto-white balance, it’s best to manually check before you start rolling; otherwise, your footage may have an undesirable color cast.
Another setting you’ll want to check is the relative sensitivity of your camera sensor to light. In DSLRs, this is referred to as ISO, and in traditional video cameras, it’s electronic gain. The brighter your light source, the lower your ISO/gain setting should be. A higher ISO/gain may introduce more noise and a lack of sharpness.
In ‘Sun’-clusion
We love seeing great, naturally lit footage, so we can’t wait to see what you come up with using these tips. Just don’t forget to wear sunscreen.
– Brian Lucy, Shutterstock Footage Coordinator
