The sun is a rather harsh, directional source of light when it comes to photography. Especially for wildlife photography, it makes most of the day difficult by shining straight down on the subject and creating dark, awkward shadows. This is why dawn and dusk are great – not only is the light soft and warm, you can also position yourself to eliminate shadows by putting the sun at your back. During the middle of the day, it’s easiest if your subject is entirely in shadow – even if it is a little dark, you wont lose detail in shadows and blown highlights.

Clouds are wonderful fluffy things. When it’s overcast, they turn the sky into a giant lightbox and diffuse the light from the sun. This makes shadows less hard and obvious, which is great for photographing wildlife. Here’s an example of the difference between a photo taken in diffused light compared to one taken in direct sunlight. Both are Wattlebirds, the photos taken at the resort we stayed at in Port Macquarie.

While the shadows are behind the bird, they still make the background distracting.

Learn to love clouds! (shade is good too) But don’t forget to take an umbrella if the weather’s looking a bit too grim.