ABSTRACT
One solution is to put the sun behind your subject. Backlighting can be an effective and beautiful solution but will introduce its own issues. For example, if you use a metering mode that encompasses too much of the viewfinder, the meter may correctly expose the background but underexpose the subject. This image would have been better with spot metering, at least on the subject, but more of the background would have been correspondingly overexposed. Moving the subject into an area that’s dominated by nonlit shapes forces the meter (in any mode except Spot) to give precedence to the unlit tones. The sunlit background is still overexposed, and the end result is much more pleasant, but the lack of front light and the wraparound effect of the backlight renders a result that needs improvement. This is a good opportunity for fill flash (see Flash), which I used (with the Ultimate Light Box modifier) to create a visual situation that’s completely believable and natural.
