advice on takin pictures involving sunlight...

[stevie]

greetings everyone... heres a question tat i had doubts wif when i go shootin tat involves takin sunlight...

i ve heard one million n one times NEVER to shoot directly facing the sun.... or it will damage ur lens or ur chip in ur DSLR....

if tats the case...
how does one take sunset?
wat does one do to take a subject with its back facing the sun?
how to get the right exposure (aka take the subject wif a blue sky or something... )?

Pls Advice....
thanx...

Cheers,
Stevie

 

[Splutter]

Eh...whoever said that?? I think the only thing that'll be damaged is probably your eyes if you stare at it through the viewfinder.

For sunsets, normally you meter the skies next to the sun, never directly at the sun or there will be severe underexposure.

For backlighted subjects, if you want the silhouette effect, you can choose to just meter the sky. If you want to correct expose the subject, just meter the subject, though this will cause the background to be overly exposed. For such cases, you may simply to choose an exposure that's halfway in between the 2 readings, or to expose for the background and fill the foregound using your flash or reflector.

 

[stevie]

thanx splutter for the advice... then again... another couple of question popped up...

wat if the subject is multi coloured? do i still do the same? wat do u quite mean by a choosin an aperture thats halfway between 2 readings? is it like somewhere between f8 n f12... choose f11 or something?

if i want a silouette picture wif a blue sky... do i meter the sky? will the sky turn white instead of blue?

wats happens if i use a polariser? does it make my sky bluer? my grass greener? at the same time darkens my picture? if so... how much shld i overexpose to get to my right exposure?

 

[d7t3]

i ve heard one million n one times NEVER to shoot directly facing the sun.... or it will damage ur lens or ur chip in ur DSLR....

you can shoot into the sun, but don't leave your camera facing the sun for long periods (e.g. minutes) because DSLR mirrors are not fully opaque, excessive bright light may damage the internals.

if i want a silouette picture wif a blue sky... do i meter the sky?

yes.

wats happens if i use a polariser? does it make my sky bluer? my grass greener? at the same time darkens my picture? if so... how much shld i overexpose to get to my right exposure?

depends on the angle of reflected light. have to try to see. if you're using a compatible polariser, the DSLR should be able to meter with no adjustment needed.

If u were to be invisible one day.... wat would u do?

i think there will be some great pics to be had

 

[d7t3]

do not leave a lens or lens-attached camera under the sun without the lens cap attached. otherwise, the lens may concentrate the sun's rays and cause a fire

during mirror lockup, do not point the camera lens at the sun. the sun's heat can scorch and damage the shutter curtain.

canon 1d mkii manual

 

[stevie]

wow... thanx... these r things i didnt know...

for a moment or so i was afraid my DSLR sensor was burning out cos i got grey sky instead of blue after some time.... was tryin to get different pics facing the sun to make the pic more dynamic....

 

[d7t3]

Do not leave the lens pointed at the sun or
another sight [sic] source for an extended period.
Intense light may cause the image sensor to
deteriorate or produce a white blur effect in
photographs.

d70 manual

 

[stevie]

white blur effect? i using D70... i do get white blur effect for the sun sometimes... is tat normal? i sure hope so...