This is part 7 of 19 in the Storefront Photography Series. Click/tap here to see the Series Index.
This week is about sunlight, shadows, and photo quality.
Sunny days are not always the best for making perfect storefront photos.
When the entire storefront is evenly hit by the sun, it’s fine. Then your photos are likely to be amazing. Full sun is very much to be preferred if your camera is not of the very best quality.
The following two issues will be addressed in this tutorial:
- Hard shadows
- Lack of contrast.
HARD SHADOWS
Often direct sunlight comes with shadows making very strong contrasts. Some areas will be super bright while others are close to pitch black.
Take a look at the 12 storefront photos shown below. All are taken on sunny days, but only one is well-lit. Which one is evenly lit? (Answer: the last one = pic 12).
Trees and other buildings can create distracting shadows in your shots. We want Maps users to see the place and not focus on some random dominating black shadows. Examples of this can be seen in pic 7 and 10.
If the sunshine hits the shop from the side, protrusions like signs can also create unwanted hard shadows. See this in pic 3.
Overhangs, awnings, and canopies can leave storefronts completely in the dark. This can lower the overall quality so much that it shouldn’t be uploaded to Google Maps. Examples include pics 3, 8, and 11.
Another issue is the balance between sunlight and indoor light. Since sunlight is so powerful the doors and windows will appear essentially black. See pics 3, 8, and 10. This is not ideal as discussed in part 1 of this series.
The black shadows will show little or no details. So much so that it can not be fixed later. Consequently, it’s often easier to get well-lit photos on a cloudy day compared to sunny days.
This takes us to the biggest problem related to shooting on sunny days:
BACKLIGHT AND THE LOSS OF CONTRAST
Shooting toward the light with the sun visibly behind a storefront is extremely difficult. Always, always, always strive to have the sun behind you when taking photos. The term “Backlight” refers to the fact that the light comes from behind what you are photographing.
Storefronts will look faded and with very little contrast when backlit. Notice the very low quality of pics 1, 2, 4, and 9. In pic 6 you can also see light reflected in the lens as a white vertical line.
Look at the greyish and dull colors in pics 2 and 9. The stores do not look their best. Don’t expect such backlit photos to become cover photos. They will normally only get a few views on Google Maps.
If your camera is very good you can sometimes get away with shooting storefronts against the sun, but cheaper phones cannot. Zoom in, so the sun is not in the frame.
Be careful that reflections of stores on the opposing street side don’t catch too much attention as seen see in pic 4.
Having the sun behind you makes your photos 10 times more attractive. Also, the sky will look more blue and beautiful.
Next week I will present a smart tool to predict the best lighting conditions.
You can find the images discussed above in the replies below with some quiz questions.
I would like to thank @MattGatlin for letting me include pics 2, 8, and 9. Thanks.
CU next week.
Cheers
Morten
Now I see how to apply this principle to photos. I loved too how you showed the detailed photos and explained why they were not optimal. Your tutorials are the best!!! 