Shooting in Mixed Light

Hi, I'm Ian Plant. And right now I'm in the rainforest of the Olympic Peninsula on an absolutely gorgeous sunny day. Now, when most people shoot a forest environment, such as this, they prefer overcast light which can be great because the light is diffused and the colors really come out. But, I also like making photographs on sunny days like this especially in the early morning or in the late afternoon. In particular, I'm looking for opportunities to shoot before as back lit or spotlit when the sun backlights these mossy trees, everything glows, and it can lead to spectacular results.

When you're shooting mixed light in the forest. When the sun's coming through the forest canopy, compositional complexity increases tenfold compared to an overcast day because not only do you have to deal with all the chaos and clutter of the forest, but now you also have to deal with this extreme contrast where there's areas of light and areas of shadow in some ways, shooting in mix light can simplify your compositional process as anything that falls into shadow is essentially gonna disappear. So what I do is I look for interesting shapes that emerge that are in the light and I make those, the focus of my composition. What I'm typically looking for is a composition where it's bright in the middle and there are dark elements in shadow that are on the edges and the corners of the composition. So everything vignettes that brighter center, helping to pull the eye deeper into the composition.

One thing I love to do when I'm shooting in light like this in the forest is to include the sun in my composition. And by using a wide angle lens and a small aperture like F 11 or F 16, I can render the sun as an attractive eye-catching starburst effect. You have to be careful when you're aiming the lens into the light because you can get lens flare. So what I always do is I make sure to partially block the sun, I'll select the position so that the sun is just peeking out from the corner of a tree trunk or a branch. And that way it softens the light a little bit.

You still get that burst effect but you don't get any flare. Exposure can be a challenge when you're working with a mixed light subject. So I'm often using exposure compensation to drop my exposure, maybe to minus one, that way, I make sure that any area that's dark is rendered in shadow and I'm not overexposing any of the bright highlights of my subject. So when you're photographing a forest environment don't just play it safe with overcast light. Get out there on a sunny day and photograph in mixed light.

It's a lot more challenging. It's really difficult to make a good photograph when you're working in mixed light, but it's worth the effort. I love working on the edge of light. And if I can make something work in that kind of light where I've got the trees back lit and all the mosses glowing, I know then that I'm going to get a really compelling photograph.