Here Comes the Sun! - The Korea Times

2013-10-27. Magoksa. Photo by Tom Coyner

By Tom Coyner

Beyond a doubt, the strongest single element in many pictures is the sun. People love to look at sunrise and sunset pictures. The sun creates shadows and silhouettes. The sun can be blinding or it can be seductive.

2014-08-28. Seoul Grand Hyatt. Photo by Tom Coyner

2014-05-20. Seoul DDP. Photo by Tom Coyner

Too often, however, people exclaim, “Look! Sunset!” and whip out their smartphones and cameras. But what is often needed is to take into consideration the overall composition. Either the sun should balance other elements in the picture or other elements should draw the eye to the sun. The important consideration is that sense the sun is usually the brightest or lightest element in the photo, so the viewer’s eye will first travel there. So either the elements should line up to take the viewer to the sun, or there has to be strong enough other elements counterbalancing the sun.

2015-02-17. Myanmar Bagan. Photo by Tom Coyner

2015-02-16. Myanmar Bagan. Photo by Tom Coyner

Also, the sun can create sun rays! The trick for capturing sun rays is to stop down the lens aperture to at least f/16 or smaller (or larger f/ number such as f/22 of f/32, etc.). The smaller the aperture hole, the more likely to capture sun rays. Usually it takes several hit-and-miss photos to aim one’s camera so the light just barely peeks out over an object, such as a building, a tree branch, or even clouds.

2016-12-06. Laguna Beach, California. Photo by Tom Coyner