Shoot into the sun

If the light’s right, you can put flares back in fashion!

01 Broaden your horizons

On a sunny evening, find an open location, as for this technique to work the sun needs to be near the horizon, with a direct line of sight to your camera. To see when and where the sun will set in your location, visit http://suncalc.net/

02 Get down low

If the sun is still a little high, try getting down low. We laid down in some tall grass to place the sun behind the model, and allowed the grass to intrude in front of the lens to add spots of blurry highlights and enhance that intimate mood.

03 Watch the background

Place the model between your camera and sun. The flare will wash over your model. Be aware of the background, too: we also used an oak tree to help illuminate the background, as the backlight on the leaves was particularly pretty.

04 Bounce the light

Set your camera to aperture-priority mode. If you expose for the sunlight, the model will be too dark. Set some positive exposure compensation to brighten the model, and bounce light in using a reflector so you have a balanced exposure.

05 Add haze

So-called veiling flare is the haze that seeps into the frame from the sides. Allow it to fade as it reaches your subject so you have a clear view of them. It can and should overlap your subject, but ensure you can still see them through the haze.

06 Step aside

If the flare obscures your subject, move the light source to the edge of the frame by stepping to one side. By moving slightly, the ghostings are pushed to the opposite side of the frame, but, again, make sure you don’t cover up faces.