Taking Photos Into the Sun
Some people avoid taking photos into the sun. Granted, you never know quite what’s going to happen, but sometimes it’s interesting to try it just to see.
We climbed Kuju Mountain, a volcano in Southern Japan the other day, and this shot is an example of my rashness when it comes to taking photos into the sun. The sulfur vents happened to be in that direction, so I just pointed my camera and started shooting.
By some standards this picture is a disaster. The foreground is underexposed, and the sky overexposed, but personally I’m pleased with the result. The underexposure of the the forground makes it look harsh and moonlike, and serves to emphasize the wildly billowing steam from the Kuju sulfer vents, and the round white spot where the camera just couldn’t handle the intense sunlight helps to capture the brilliance of a sunny afternoon at high altitude.
These sulfur vents at Kuju are famous even in Japan. The sulfur comes out of holes in the volcano as super heated steam and forms intricate bright yellow stalactites at the vent openings. These are harvested, ground into powder and sold as bath salts, but it’s a dangerous job to get them, and strictly off limits to the public. One deep breath of the volcano steam could be fatal.
But I digress. We were talking about taking photos into the sun. Try it. You may be pleasantly surprised at the result.