8 Reasons to Consider Shooting in Full Sun and Open Fields
Apr 06, 2023
There is just something about wiiiide open spaces 🎶 (please tell me you are signing Dixie Chicks right now!) that we love so much when shooting! Unfortunately, most photographers cringe and follow with the sentiment “room to make a big mistake” 🎶 (We got jokes for days over here, y'all. 😂). We want to point out a few things about a wide open field that we think are worthy enough to consider tackling this fear! We hope you’ll be inspired to create magic of your very own! So, here they are! Our 8 reasons we love shooing in full sun and open fields for portions of our sessions!
1. Movement of the grass: The movement nature offers is stunning and brings life to every corner of the image it touches.
2. Open negative space: Allows for a light and airy backdrop without being weighted down with heavy greenery, tree trunks, etc.
3. Deeper depth of field: With sprawling fields you will have more distance between your subject and their backdrop than if they were right up against trees.
4. No obtrusive objects: You have a very low risk of something from the background appearing like it’s coming through your subjects. Every had a weird branch that just didn’t look right?!
5. Rim Light: The sun is so light and bright it creates beautiful rim light around your subjects!
6. Blue skies: In certain scenarios, you are able to keep those gorgeous blue in the sky as part of the image!
7. Less crowded: If you shoot in public ares or parks, there's typically certain areas that can get really crowded with other photographers. Shooting in full sun + open fields allows you to avoid this as the majority of photographers are not shooting this way.
8. Diversity: This adds diversity to galleries by mixing open field/full sun images in with shade and partial shade images / or images with more busy backgrounds.
If you haven’t explored what you love most about your favorite images, we highly recommend you do! We loved this little exercise as we considered one of Katie’s favorite places to shoot. It would be so helpful to a new (or experienced) photographer looking to discover those special attributes of a location that inspire them! What do you love about YOUR favorite location?
