Finding Inspiration – Chasing the Sun

Chasing the Sun

This installment of Finding Inspiration in Ordinary Places focuses on one of the most difficult situations photographers face...working in full sun when the location itself offers almost nothing visually appealing.

This setup took place behind a hotel in an area with no trees, no beautiful architecture, no interesting foreground, and no obvious “safe” place to make the photograph work. It was easily the most challenging location in the entire series.

Instead of avoiding the conditions, the goal was to use them.

This course breaks down how the sun influenced the direction of the setup, how the location was evaluated, and how camera position, composition, subject placement, and light were used to create a finished image that looked far better than the environment itself.

The larger lesson is about learning how to stay creative when the location gives you very little to work with. Rather than depending on shade, greenery, or a visually impressive background, you’ll see how to identify what matters, control what enters the frame, and build the photograph around the light that is actually available.

You will also see the full behind-the-scenes process, including the exact shooting environment, how the setup developed, and the complete RAW-to-final edit in Adobe Photoshop.

This course includes:

• Behind-the-scenes footage from the full-sun setup
• A complete breakdown of the actual location
• How to work when the environment offers very little visually
• Camera position, subject placement, and composition decisions
• How the sun influenced the direction of the photograph
• How the final frame was built without relying on trees, shade, or a traditionally beautiful background
• Complete RAW-to-final editing in Adobe Photoshop
• Techniques that can be applied to many different difficult locations

Although a strobe is used in the tutorial, the larger lessons are not dependent on flash. Natural light photographers can apply the same principles of location selection, composition, framing, and working intentionally with available light.