Dapple: a dappled light AI photoshoot under a tree
You get a midday portrait at a meadow edge under a big leafy tree, with round spots of hard sun scattered over skin and white cotton. Deep green shade sits between them, and tall grass blurs across the bottom of the frame.
Art direction: Alex But
- Lens
- 50 mm
- Aperture
- f/2
- Shutter
- 1/1000 s
- Light
- Sun through leaves
- Time
- Midday
Best for
Six frames from this shoot
Five frames and one detail, made by haloshot from three phone photos of one person.
Frame 1 · Dapple 
Frame 2 · Dapple 
Frame 3 · Dapple 
Frame 4 · Dapple 
Frame 5 · Dapple 
Detail · Dapple
About the dappled sunlight look
Each bright spot is a small image of the sun, projected through a gap in the canopy the way a pinhole works, so the patches land round or oval with hard edges. Inside them the white fabric clips a little. A 50 mm at f/2, held low in the grass two to four meters away, turns the nearest blades into green streaks. At 1/1000 s a light breeze barely registers.
Clothes, place and when to pick it
haloshot dresses women in a long crinkled cotton tunic-shirt over wide linen trousers with small silver hoops, and men in an oversized white cotton shirt with pleated linen trousers, both in flat tan sandals. It is shot under one big tree at a meadow edge. Pick it for a summer post, a dating profile or a soft portrait with your face lit spot by spot.
How it works
Add three photos of yourself: face, half turn and full length. haloshot renders a free five-frame preview of Dapple with your face. Pick the frames you like and keep them in 4:5 HD.
How to shoot dappled sunlight portraits under a tree
Dapples come from high sun passing through small gaps in a dense canopy. Each gap works like a pinhole and projects a round image of the sun.
- Find a dense tree at a meadow edge and shoot from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., while the spots stay round.
- Expose the 50 mm at f/2, 1/1000 s for skin inside a sun spot, letting the shade fall deep green.
- Kneel in the grass 2 to 4 m away so blades sit close to the lens and blur.
- Shift the model a few centimeters at a time until a spot lands on an eye or cheek.
Wind moves every spot, so pick a calm day and shoot bursts.
Set notes by Alex But, art director · Updated
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Shoot Dapple with your face
Three photos in, five free preview frames out. Keep the best ones in HD.