Photos up the canyon and on hikes
Okay. We've done kitchen tables and everyday stuff. Today we're outside, on a trail, where the light is doing whatever it wants and you don't get to control it the way you can at home.
This is a fun one for me. I live twenty minutes from a canyon and I take advantage of it more than I probably should, according to my kids.
The light problem is different outside
Inside, you can move a lamp, turn off an overhead, walk closer to a window. Outside, the sun is the sun and it's not moving for you. So the trick isn't controlling the light, it's positioning yourself and your subject relative to it.
Harsh midday sun up the canyon is rough. It's flat, it's white, everybody squints. If you can hike in the morning or the evening instead, the light comes in low and side-on and everything looks better, shadows and all. I know you can't always pick your hike time around your camera. Just know that if the light looks bad, it's usually not you, it's noon.
The backlit problem shows up on trails constantly
Here's a version of something I've talked about before with group photos at a table, and it happens on hikes all the time too. You stop at a viewpoint, you turn your family around so the canyon or the valley is behind them, and you shoot straight into the light. Everybody comes out as a dark shape with a bright halo. No faces. Just outlines.
I had this exact thing happen at a family dinner once, everyone backlit against the sliding door, all silhouettes. Same physics happens on a trail, just with mountains instead of a door. The fix is the same: turn around. Put the light behind you, not behind them. Yes, that means you lose the epic backdrop in the shot. You can get both, but it takes an extra step: move to a spot where the sun is more to the side, so you keep some of the view without losing every face to shadow. Takes some walking around. Worth it.
Practical steps for the trail
Check where the sun is before you shoot. Not after. If your subject's back is to it, you're heading for silhouettes.
Get low. We covered this a few lessons back and it matters double outside. Kneeling in the dirt on a trail gets you underneath the scrub oak or looking up at your kid on a rock instead of down at the top of their head. Yes, your knees will get dirty. That's a hiking clothes problem, not a photo problem.
Watch for dappled light. Trees make patchy shadows on faces, little bright spots and dark spots scattered around. It's distracting. If you can, move your subject a few feet into open shade or open sun instead of standing in the middle of leaf-shadow.
Wipe your lens. This sounds dumb until you do it. Sweaty hands, sunscreen, trail dust, it all ends up smeared on that little lens in your pocket and you won't notice until the photo comes out soft and hazy. Shirt hem, quick wipe, every time you pull the phone out.
Take the second shot, especially with moving people. Kids on a trail do not hold still. Neither do dogs. Shoot two or three in a row and pick after.
The one I actually love
Scrub oak in the fall, when the light comes through the leaves sideways instead of from straight overhead. My son Easton told me I was "being weird about the trees" on a hike once, and honestly, I was. I kept stopping the group to shoot the light coming through the branches. Everyone was ready to keep moving and I was crouched on the trail fussing with the same shot four different ways.
I got one photo out of that whole stop that I still like. One. Out of probably fifteen tries. That's kind of the ratio, and I want you to expect that ratio instead of getting discouraged by it.
My opinion on this, and I'll say it plainly: I'd rather you get low and get close on a plain rock or a plain patch of trail than stand at eye level with a gorgeous mountain behind you and get a boring photo. The mountain isn't doing the work. You are.
A real caution
Canyon trails have loose gravel, drop-offs, and bad footing in a lot of spots, especially near overlooks where everyone wants the photo. Don't walk backward to frame a shot. Don't lean over an edge for the angle. Plant your feet, take the photo, then move if you need a different spot. No photo is worth a fall on scree.
Before next time
Next time you're outside, whether that's a real hike or just the front yard, check where the sun is before you point the camera at anyone. That one habit fixes more outdoor photos than anything else I teach.