The Sun is on the Right side of Frame

The Sun is on the Right side of Frame

In most "natural lighting" outdoors stock photography, the light source is from the right side of the frame.  Adjust artificial shadows accordingly.

This assertion has not been proved, but the logic is as follows:

1. Photographers are naturally lazy people, like the rest of us.

2. Unless they specifically want to capture early morning or a particular time of day, they are just as happy as the rest of us to work in the afternoon.  This gives travel time to the location without too much inconvenience.

3.  Therefore, I assume, the vast majority of nature photographs are shot in the afternoon.  Not only are there more daylight hours in the afternoon (5-8 hours versus 3-4 hours) but the hours are more suited to the nature of the photographer's schedule.

4.  If the photographer wants to photograph anything besides the sun itself, he will want the sun to be behind him as he shoots the image.

5. The sun  always travels on an arc through the Southern hemisphere as it moves from East to West.  If the photographer shoots toward the East, the sun will always be to the South, or on the right side of the frame; even in early morning.

6.  The photographer will rarely shoot towards the South because he will always be shooting into the Sun and the model will be backlit.

7. If the photographer shoots toward the North, the Sun will be on his right for the first half of the day and left for the second half.

8.  In the afternoon, the photographer will rarely shoot into the West, because he will always be shooting into the Sun.

9.  It would be difficult to prove, but the light source from stock photography is usually from the right hand side of the frame.  I first encountered this unconsciously while searching through files of archival photographs in an image bank.  I was looking for an image with shadows being cast to the right with the Sun on the left and all I found were photos with the Sunlight source from the right of frame..  The more I think about it, the more it still seems to be the case:

For whatever reason, the majority of outdoor stock photos (maybe about 65%) have the light source on the right hand side of the frame.



copyright (c) 2016
William schaeffer