Whether you use a DSLR or prefer to take pictures with your phone, summer is a great time for shutterbugs who love to document their adventures. While natural light is the first choice of almost every photographer, summer days are bright enough to overpower your equipment, creating lens flares and overexposed shots. The tips below will help ensure that your pictures look great when you pick them up from the photo lab.

4 Tips for Taking Pictures in the Summer

1. Keep the Sun Behind You

Not only does placing the subject between you and your light source create a silhouette, but having the sun in the frame will usually cause a lens flare. Getting the background you want with the sun behind you might be difficult, but the results will be worth it.

2. Put the Sun Behind Portrait Subjects

On extremely bright days, putting the sun behind the subject will usually result in better close-up portraits. Angling the shot so the subject blocks out the sun can give you a nice rim lighting effect, which forms an outline around the subject and separates them from the background.

3. Use the Right Settings

In bright light, lock your aperture to f/16, which limits the amount of light coming into the lens. While you can adjust the ISO and shutter speed for better shots, the best settings are usually around ISO 100 with a shutter speed around 1/100.

4. Shoot in the Golden Hour

The hours just after sunrise and right before sunset have long been considered the ideal conditions for photography. The soft quality of the light makes it easier to create great photos, with more flexibility in framing your shots.

As one of the country’s most trusted photo labs, NuImaging Professional in Covington, KY, offers premier printing services to photographers from coast to coast. Along with crisp prints of all sizes, this recognized photo lab also produces photo books, canvas prints, and a broad range of other specialized products. Visit their website for more on their high-quality prints, get more shooting tips on Facebook, or call (859) 261-7427 to speak with a photo lab technician.