The sun provides what photographers call “key light”, which is just fancy way of saying “main light”, but shooting in the sun can be really tricky. High in the sky sun can make harsh shadows. Sun in faces can cause people to squint their eyes. Sun shining into a lens can make it hard to focus and crazy glare that washes out the subject of the photo. Clouds moving in and out of the sunlight can change the amount of light from one minute to the next.

Avoid sun on subject’s face.
When photographing our kids or our friends, it is natural to think that having them stand in the sun with the sun shining on their faces would be the best lighting, but the opposite is actually true, because sun in the eyes of a person causes them to squint and it might even cause harsh shadows around their eyes or washed out skin. Positioning the people you are photographing with their backs to the sun or even in the shade of a building or tree will allow for diffused light on their skin. The sun is a powerful source of light and it can wrap around the things that block it to produce the diffused light needed to make great portraits. Be careful to notice the shadows and try to have faces turned so that there are no shadows on their face whenever possible.
What about that dreaded midday sun?
Full sun in the middle of the day makes it hard to capture the vibrant colors of your subject and their surroundings, because at this time of day, the sun is intense and has a tendency to wash out the colors. This isn’t the time of day that you will get that creamy soft look, however, you CAN harness the intensity of this time of day using your manual mode camera settings! Try using a narrow aperture (higher f-stop number) and shoot FOR the harsh shadows, silhouettes and patterns the sun creates.
Use reflective light.
Notice where light is reflecting and use it to light your subject. Concrete buildings, gravel roads, and exterior windows on buildings are all surfaces that can reflect light onto the face of your subject and provide beautiful catch lights their eyes! It takes some practice to see it, but this is a great way to utilize the sun light that wraps around buildings or reflects off of surfaces.
Try photographing during the “Golden Hour”
The “Golden Hour” is that time of day as the sun is very low on the horizon before sunset. The light at this time of day appears warmer and softer and many people consider this the “magical” hour for photography. This time of day is very short and requires planning ahead. This is a good time to use a larger, wider aperture (smaller f-stop number) to get a creamy soft look. Beware of shooting directly into the sun, though, because it is often very hard to get sharp focus both because of the sunlight fading the lines of your subject and the wider aperture causes focus to be more difficult. This takes a lot of practice and experimentation to get the exact shots you plan for.
Advanced Tip! How to capture a sunbeam or a sunstar.
When you see the perfect sunstar over the horizon or between the trees in the background, you might want to capture it, however this is not as easy as you might think. Capturing sharp rays of a sun beam require a narrow aperture (larger f-stop number), which possibly means increasing ISO and slowing down shutter speed to get the proper exposure of the scene. This takes practice, knowing how your camera settings work and a lot of patience.

Practice. Practice. Practice. Learning photography requires a lot of practice and creativity to try new things. Throughout the seasons the sun changes as it rises and sets at a different minute each and every day. The weather changes daily, too, as the moisture levels in the air change and the clouds shift in the atmosphere. No two minutes are ever exactly the same in one location to the next. Practicing the art of photography can be a new adventure each and every day!

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