There was a time I used to live on a paradise island called Mauritius and the summer lasted almost the whole year round. The sun was not an issue back then, as the sun protection was a ritual. The times have changed and I relocated back to my motherland Armenia, which has very severe cold winters and really hot summers. As the summer lasts only limited time we usually forget to protect ourselves from sun when it suddenly starts burning like hell.
Last week I got an order to do a campaign for a jewelry company here and they decided to go for an outdoor shoot. Yerevan, being a small but very populated city is also dense in wires in the air. I needed a clean blue sky with no distractions or buildings in. We settled for a neat, huge balcony in a high location called Cascade, where you can watch the whole city. The balcony also reminded me of a hot oven under the sky. End of story. The sunburn I received complimented my already pink-magenta hair, and the final view of myself was not that heart-warming. After today’s disaster I remembered all I managed to do during the shoot to make it less suffering and also the rituals I did back in Mauritius.
1. Sunscreen
You don’t need a trip to the sea to have a sunscreen. It is your best friend, even if you don’t realize it, even if you don’t understand the value of it. Sunscreen is your best friend whatever age you are. It is like an invisible angel protecting you in hell like conditions. Luckily I always use it on my face, but my arms and shoulders didn’t survive that day. Please never forget to take at least SPF 30 when the sun starts shining a little brighter through your window. It will also save you on your next day meeting (if there is one) from looking awkward. If possible, have a hat, sunglasses, light color clothes, and a handy pocket of sanitizing napkins to reapply sunscreen once you have cleaned your hands.
2. Observation
Total 23 frames and final 6 images out of this whole shoot.
Hot weather is cool when you are on vacation and roaming around in a bikini at the beach, with all kind of lotions to get beautiful tan, but it is not fun when you have to work directly under its conditions. It is very smart to use the preparation time to observe your subject and think/try angles before actual shooting time. This will allow you to save a decent amount of time while being directly under the sun and will prevent you and your model from turning into a red tomato. I always, be it summer or not, try to walk around and work the angles, rather than shooting 15 of the same kind of images. This also saves time on selection period, and cuts the time of UV rays aging your skin. Think like you are shooting with film, that your frames are limited, and it will cause better, more unique frames rather than shooting endless numbers of very similar images.
3. Water
This is not inventing a bicycle, but one of the most important things to bring on set. Not only you will get dehydrated, but also will lose your productivity if you forget it. Having a thermos bag, which is very handy, will prolong your time for having fresh water instead of tea.
4. Equipment
You might want to go with all kinds of complex gear for a shoot, but trust me “less is more” for these conditions. You don’t really want to be spending a vast majority of your time adjusting the position of your equipment and syncing your settings, well, unless you have a superhuman assistant. Keeping it simple will let you focus on your subject rather than thinking too technically, and get your best shots faster. As an addition you have a huge light source called “Sun,” which might be used to your advantage. A simple scrim, reflector, or combination of both might do wonders for outdoor lighting. My personal favorite is a scrim in combination with a speedlight in an indirect octabox.
5. The Shade
If it is possible protect yourself, your gear, and the team under the shade. That is not always possible, as the case with me today, but some simple things might change the game. If there is a bench around, put your equipment on it, rather than hot ground, and cover with normal umbrella. This is not the ultimate solution, but it will provide some level of protection and take minimum space in your bag. I don’t use umbrellas in my photography, but definitely will keep couple of them in my bag for the upcoming shoots – three months of summer ahead!
Being an islander with dark skin, I never used to wear sunscreen until very recently after one beautiful shoot at the beach that left my skin on my back aching. Massive sunburn! I definitely recommend a sunscreen when shooting outdoors.
As for another tip, or maybe is it just my way around the sun issue, is to either shoot in some shade (when I lack a scrim on top of the model) and use a big reflector to reflect the hard sunlight. It works nicely.
But often times, I find a spot that I love but where I am forced to shoot with a very strong backlight, so I just use one or two reflectors on my model. A bit hard for them at times but this usually gives me a dramatic effect towards which I gravitate more and more these days. It's not always easy for me to just look through my viewfinder while the sun is in my face, so sometimes I just use the liveview to make sure I got the shot right. One such example below.
A shade and sun are perfect couple but sometimes it is jut impossible to have any :) I also find myself putting my head under some cloth/fabric to check the results.
As silly as this may seem, I use a Lycra cloth bandana and soak it with cold water every 15 minutes.. The water gets cooled by the breeze (if any) and helps on the head. But there is no real way around this heat thing.
As you get older, it's really hard to fight off the effects of a 3 to 4 hour event outside.
That's an interesting way, but the water can also attract sun to burn you more, I assure you to try SPF 50+ sunscreen all over and wear either a hat or your Lycra bandana ;)
I started shooting weddings based out of Cyprus and have since moved back to Brisbane Australia, both of which have punishing sun levels. To add to your suggestion of water, when we went out for a location shoot with the couples we would make sure we bought drinking water and spare towels/napkins for the couple as well as most wouldn't remember for themselves in the middle of their wedding. If your subject starts getting hot and thirsty and just wants to get back to their reception for a drink your shoot is going to be rushed and you're going to have unhappy looking photos.
I would also add in a change of clothes (at least the shirt) for full day wedding shoots so you can look fresh and clean walking into the reception.
good point! I also take water supply for the people on set or at least tell them to bring some on their own. I have also heart of a trick to put a cold can of any beverage/ice on your wrists, it instantly cools the blood as it flows through the veins and you must get much fresher and ready for a new shirt ;)
As a Brit I feel like I should do an article like this for rain.
that would be fantastic, I didn't face many rain situations so can't cover it myself but will enjoy a read
I just put in two days in Mexico suffering through 108 degree temperatures in and around greenhouses. I had to use an umbrella to shield my camera at times from the direct sunlight and the drone operator couldn't fly at the hottest points of the day.
Enjoyed a nice cold beer last night, that's for sure lol
not sure if that was the heat or the battery (which I also changed in hope to make it work), but my never failing Elinchrom skyport didnt react as well. Probably another TIP would be to have a backup plan and lighting / ended up using a speedlite and a scrim
It's winter here in Australia... didn't stop me doing a beach shoot the other day :P
I know those winters, don't tease us :)
The problem is we get summers like the surface of the sun.
same here, it can reach up to around 50C - ~125 F
it was still quite cold. ask the model :P
That light setup looks super sketchy. Yikes.
matter of personal choice, and btw this is the final picture of the setup: https://www.instagram.com/p/BFn8s7rSQId/?taken-by=famousbtsmagazine