For the next few tips, I’ll be focusing on the ideal lighting for photography, and how to deal with problem situations.
The time of day and the location of the sun can impact your photos for better or for worse. Unless you want your boyfriend to look like Edward Cullen at his hungriest—Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga, in case you didn’t know—avoid shooting photos when the sun is high in the sky. It forms unflattering shadows under the eyes, disastrous unless you like the starved-vampire look. Sorry. No suggestions on how to make your boyfriend look like Edward at his gorgeous, golden eye state, unless he’s willing to be converted. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t think it’s a very good option.
The best time to shoot photos is during what has been dubbed “the golden hours”. This type of lighting occurs in the morning and the evening (late afternoon in the winter) when the sun is low in the sky—the hour or so before sunset and after sunrise. The angle of the sun creates a directional light source that is soft and flattering for all subjects.
I shot the picture of the spider monkey around 10 am in February, too late in the morning for the same shot in the summer. The low angle of the sun imparted a warm glow to the picture, and the monkey seemed to appreciate it, too.