How To Use Summer Light To Get Amazing Photos!

Are you won­der­ing how to use the sum­mer light to get amaz­ing pho­tos? My mot­to has always been “shoot for the light and not the loca­tion.” I say it all of the time. I tell my clients when I am pho­tograph­ing their ses­sions, and I tell my stu­dents when I am teach­ing them…I even tell my hus­band when he’s tak­ing trav­el pho­tos with his smartphone. 

If you learn how to use the light cor­rect­ly, it will make your pho­tographs go from mediocre to absolute­ly amaz­ing! And what bet­ter time to use light than on these long sum­mer days.

Once you learn how to use the sum­mer light it is not that hard; it just takes prac­tice. Pick a sum­mer week­end, fol­low these basic steps, and start using the sum­mer light to get amaz­ing shots!

Pay attention to whether the light is “hard light” or “soft light”

Hard light cre­ates sharp shad­ows. There is a hard con­trast to this light. It is the light pro­duced on a bright sun­ny day with almost no clouds in the sky. The small­er the light source, the stronger the light. Most peo­ple will avoid hard over­head light, but I want you to search for it. 

Sum­mer is the per­fect sea­son to seek out that hard light. Look for the strong light com­ing through the trees, the bright reflec­tions com­ing from the met­al of a play­ground slide, or the reflec­tions of a water foun­tain. Don’t avoid it. Today I want you to seek it out.

Soft light is more gen­tle, soft, and under­stat­ed. It is the light that comes when the sun is dif­fused through the trees or is low­er in the sky. Soft light’s tran­si­tion is much more sub­tle and soft and tends to be much more flat­ter­ing than hard light.

When learn­ing the light, soft light is by far the eas­i­est to use. It soft­ly falls over your sub­ject, almost wrap­ping them in light. It is flat­ter­ing and forgiving.

Use the light to set the mood in your photograph

Pho­tog­ra­phy is about telling a sto­ry, and you can use the sum­mer light to help tell that sto­ry. How do you want your pho­to to feel? Dif­fer­ent types of light evoke dif­fer­ent emotions.

Hard light cre­ates more of an edgy look. It’s great for show­ing the heat of the sum­mer in a city.

Soft light is used to cre­ate emo­tion and nos­tal­gia, and can be used to por­tray ten­der moments at the beach.

Flat light is often for­giv­ing and used when the pho­to itself is full of char­ac­ter, and the light doesn’t need to be the star. 

Back­light tends to lend itself to a more nos­tal­gic look. It is the light that you get dur­ing the gold­en hour.

Play with the light during the Golden Hour

The gold­en hour is one hour before sun­set. The light is mag­i­cal… gold­en and wraps itself per­fect­ly around your sub­ject. And there is no bet­ter time than the sum­mer to get out and play with the light of the gold­en hour.

Play with Backlight and Silhouettes

Head to the beach as the sun is set­ting and play with the per­fect sil­hou­ette. Any­thing can cre­ate a sil­hou­ette, just make sure that it has a dis­tinct form. Noth­ing mem­o­ry is bet­ter than cap­tur­ing your kids look­ing off into the dis­tance as the sun is slow­ly set­ting. Have fun when cre­at­ing those memories.

What­ev­er sum­mer light you choose to prac­tice with, have fun, enjoy your­self and remem­ber to look for the light and not the loca­tion and if you are ready to learn more about how to use the light in your pho­tog­ra­phy, check out my Let in the Light Essen­tials class!