Inspawration Photography

Side light is definitely a challenge! There are a few ways to work with it, but none are especially easy.

• Embrace the light/dark contrast, and use it for artistic effect, really playing up the contrasts
• Do some editing to brighten the dark side of the dog’s face using some radial filters/raising shadows
  • Be careful – because our eyes naturally read light, this can look strange and fake very quickly!
• Turn the dog’s face toward the light, have him looking toward the light instead of toward you
  • Note – this might mean his whole face is in shadow (since the side of the face toward you won’t  necessarily be receiving light) so you may need to do some editing to raise shadows. 
  • Play with the angle – if his face is parallel to you, it will probably be more shadowed than if it’s at 45 degrees. See examples below!
• Turn the whole dog so he is parallel/almost parallel to you, and pointing into the light
• Avoid combining full sun and side light! The contrasts will be out of control!
• Slightly change your angle so that the sun is a bit more over one of your shoulders, rather than directly to the side.