Iphone Exposure Trick - Shooting into the sun

I made up this trick (although I'm quite sure others out there are already doing this) just a couple of weeks ago after getting frustrated with the shadows in my Iphone photograph of a gorgeous home. 

Both of these photographs below were taken nearly seconds apart straight from my iphone, aiming directly into the sun. The photos are not edited in any photo software on my phone or on my computer. Why are they completely different, you ask? Good question, I say.

Easy. The 'before' photograph was shot as most typical Iphone photographs would be shot. Hold camera up, see image you want to capture, click button. Done. As you can see, I wasn't happy with the results. The camera, understandably chose to expose the photo for the sky. Being that I was using an Iphone, I had no control over the automatic settings the camera determines. Notice how perfectly blue the sky is and how much detail is in the clouds. Awesome. But then the rest is useless and underexposed or dark. 

If I were photographing this scene just to capture the sky, I would probably be happy and jump around. However, I was more interested in the home and the really cool shadows on the sidewalk and green grass. 

Now what? So, in order to 'trick' my camera into exposing what I wanted to see in the shot, I tried something new. I held my thumb over the mini-lens after focusing the shot (to focus, just hold down the photo button and don't let go yet.) Once the shot was focused, and THEN the lens was covered with my thumb, the camera automatically changed it's exposure setting to compensate for the darkness of my thumb. I immediately moved my thumb at the same time of taking the photo. The Iphone didn't have time to revert back to its standard settings, and was still in 'everything is dark mode', so it automatically brightened up my image... a LOT, showing all the details I originally wanted in the grass and home. 

The good news is it's very, very, easy once you try it a few times! 

This is a prime example of what techniques are used in real estate photography on professional cameras. We often take multiple exposures on a tripod, some for the sky, and some for the foreground, and then merge them together to get a great exposure of each section of the photograph. 

Hope you enjoyed! 

- XO - 

Tasia