5 photo tips for taking photos in the sun

Tip 1 (Underexpose your photos): If you get too much light in your photo, then you lose detail. It is always slightly better to have a slightly under-exposed photo rather than a over-exposed photo; since you can recover from a slightly under-exposed photo; if you lose detail in a photo, then you cannot recover those details.

Tip 2 (Use polarizing filters): Using polarizing filters can help reduce the amount of light in the photo, and also removing the harsh glare caused by the sun. Tiffen 58MM Circular Polarizer Glass Filter and HOYA 72mm Circularizing Polarizing Filter are two such filters you can use.

Tip 3 (Get your models to look up): In order to avoid the shadow under the eyes caused by the light of the sun, you can be on a higher point than the model. This way this forced the model / person to look up and avoids the shadow. Make sure that you the person is facing away from the sun, else they will have to squint, and this will spoil the photo.

Tip 4 (Don't uner-expose, do light metering): A tip above had mentioned that it is better to under-expose rather than over-expose. This remains correct, but you do need to be a bit careful that you don't under-expose too much. This can cause noise in the photo, so do light metering before you go in for under-exposure.

Tip 5 (Use HDR): Shoot at different levels of exposure, and then combine in a HDR to get an image that has enough detail. Make sure that people in your photos are following the rules about not looking towards the sun, and are not squinting.

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5 Photo tips (centered around the morning and daybreak)

Tip 1 (Dream like quality of structures): Try this out. For a few days, go before daybreak near some structures that you like and admire, and then take shots before sunrise. What you will find is that many of these structures look very beautiful in the morning, since the soft light makes these structures seem more beautiful; if you are into poetry, you could feel that they feel floating, light, in the morning sunrise.

Tip 2 (Morning time and birds): If you are an early riser, you would tend to see that birds tend to be most active either in the time just before sunrise, or around sunset. You can get some great bird movement shots (including of larger groups, and those species whom you normally do not get to see) if you do this shooting early.

Tip 3 (Make an HDR): In the morning time, you get rapid changes in light levels within a short period of time. This is ideal if you want to make some great HDR shots in the least possible time period; as long as you shoot often, and adjust your camera for the changed light conditions.

Tip 4 (Sun and moon): You must have seen those shots, whereby the sun and moon can be seen in the same photo, without the moon or the sun being much brighter than each other. This is only possible soon after the sunrise, since the brilliance of the sun rapidly increases, and the moon will soon get lost in this extra light.

Tip 5 (Low levels of pollution in the morning): Morning time is when the pollution levels in the atmosphere and water bodies seem to be minimal, since the whole night with its slightly colder setting helps to bring down the levels of pollution. Combine this with much harsher light in the morning, and you can get great levels of detail in your photos, something that will not be apparent later in the day.