Changing natural light in tropical areas?

[Chelsea8882]

Hey guys, I did a few searches and couldn't find anything pertinent, so...

I've recently moved to the Florida Keys, and have to do some shooting outside. Does anyone have tips about shooting in tropical conditions? Right now I just have t3i with a kit lens, but I'm totally open for hardware suggestions.

It can be extremely bright & harsh light one minute, then dark and storming the next, then harsh again in ten minutes. But mostly it's just harsh and bright.

I'd also like to do some sunset/sunrise shooting, which I don't have a lot of experience in.

Any tips?

Thanks in advance!

 

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

Hey guys, I did a few searches and couldn't find anything pertinent, so...

I've recently moved to the Florida Keys, and have to do some shooting outside. Does anyone have tips about shooting in tropical conditions? Right now I just have t3i with a kit lens, but I'm totally open for hardware suggestions.

It can be extremely bright & harsh light one minute, then dark and storming the next, then harsh again in ten minutes. But mostly it's just harsh and bright.

I'd also like to do some sunset/sunrise shooting, which I don't have a lot of experience in.

Any tips?

Thanks in advance!

Miami as a reference is at 25 or so deg. North Lat., San Diego where I live, is about 32 deg North Lat. So, with in reasonable approximations your 'golden' hour for sunset shots, is about 45 minutes long. More northern latitudes during the summer have a longer 'golden hour'.

The biggest problem with that time of day, is that the human eye 'adjusts' very well, but the camera often has to have a low shutter speed, or high ISO value to get a reasonable exposure... but the light does improve things for many type of people with various skin imperfections...

For the hours between 9-10 and 4-5... screening on top, finding porticos, awnings, porches... etc... if forced to shoot in bright sun, use bounce cards to soften eye sockets, shoot subjects with their back to the sun, you shooting directly at the subject, and make sure the lens is covered relative to the sun to avoid any form of flair.

These sorts of things take practice to 'see' in a location, and then setup quickly.

 

[slondon]

Interesting stuff. I used to live in southern Mexico south of the Tropic of Cancer and have traveled in northern Russia and Finland close to the Arctic Circle including in early winter. One thing this has taught me is that I'm personally very sensitive to sun angle, how it plays on objects and definitely casts different shadows and has different intensities as a function of latitude. So yep, put people under overheads and push the light where it needs to be. OTOH exploit the visual charms that aren't available to others who don't shoot where you do.