Brightness is in the eye of the beholder.
For a creative photographer, it is meaningless to say “the sky is this bright” or “the sky is this dark”. Instead, on a given day with a given sky, you might say: “I’ll make the sky bright”:
Or “I’ll give it some colour”:
Or “I’ll turn it dark so I get dramatic saturation”:
You do this by exposing it more, or less. A blue sky can be anything from white if I overexpose it, to almost dark whrn I underexpose it.
That’s how I get pictures like the desert pictures the other day, or this, of my sister-in-law the other day too, on a bright Arizona afternoon:
Of course when I underexpose like that, she would be dark too, except I am using my flash to fill in the foreground.
So, looking at SiL’s nose, there is visible shadow, so there must be a light source off to the left side of the frame. Ground shadows indicate the sun is off to the right side of the frame. Am I right in thinking you used an off camera flash? And great photo btw.
Not a lot of shadow off the nose… look at the glasses- if the flash had been off camera, they shouldn’t look so.. spot-on reflecting back at the camera. All it takes is the camera being slightly to the left.
Maybe?
Paul: spot on. The flash is on the camera. In mixed light (and when you are in a hurry) you can get away with this!
Ah, I see it now in the sunglasses. I missed that first time around.