How to get good exterior photos while shooting towards the sun

North facing structures are notoriously hard to photograph. A beautiful home can look like a mash of very dark shadows and harsh angles if it faces north. This home in Westminster, Colorado has fantastic curb appeal, but it’s north facing front door and large garage doors make it a challenge to convey the drama contained inside.

Properly exposed north facing exterior

Exposure settings chosen by camera

Quick tips

• Don’t worry about blowing out the sky, adjust the exposure until you can just barely begin to make out detail on the front of the building. You can boost the levels (slightly) in Adobe Photoshop or Apple Aperture 2 later.
• Use your free hand to block the sun. Compose the shot until the sun is just barely out of frame. Look through the eyepiece while simultaneously moving your hand above the camera until your hand blocks the lens flare. Take the photo once the lens flare is obscured by your hand.
• Stand in the shade of a tree or other structure. Even the shadow cast by a narrow light pole is enough to keep the lens in the shade.

Adding Artificial light to show detail:

• Compose the shot so the sun is barely out of frame. Or, if you choose to have the sun in the frame, make sure it is fully in the scene.
• Set your flash to sync with the shutter at 1/250 (the fastest flash sync speed for many cameras), adjust the aperture to accommodate lighting conditions. It’s not unusual to have aperture settings of 11 or higher. Note: the smaller the aperture, the more light required by your flash to compensate. The trick is to find the right balance.
• Set your flash unit to Manual mode and fire at full strength (1/1) to start, then adjust down from there.

Courtyard scene with natural lighting only.

Courtyard scene with added lighting