How to avoid hard-light on faces?

When taking pictures during day-time, how can I avoid faces from being over-exposed when facing the sun? How do I balance it out so that the rest of the body/clothes are normally exposed as well as the face does not look washed out? I do not have any fancy tools.

A flash, reflector? Depends on situations.

That is THE classic dilemma for budding photographers (one of 'em, anyway).

And there are many tools made for this purpose: Flash; GOBOs; translucents; reflectors... I recommend you study this and learn about these, you'll learn a lot more through books and research than throwing out the question on a message board.

Unfortunately, they DO cost money, although you don't necessarily have to break the bank.

nepali wrote in post #11170029
When taking pictures during day-time, how can I avoid faces from being over-exposed when facing the sun? How do I balance it out so that the rest of the body/clothes are normally exposed as well as the face does not look washed out? I do not have any fancy tools.

Use Google searching for available light photography...this is some from youtube http://www.youtube.com …le+light+photog​raphy&aq=f

You control brightness via exposure. You control excessive contrast via SUPPLEMENTAL LIGHT. You provide supplemental light via a REFLECTOR or via an artificial light source such as flash fill.

nepali wrote in post #11170029
When taking pictures during day-time, how can I avoid faces from being over-exposed when facing the sun? How do I balance it out so that the rest of the body/clothes are normally exposed as well as the face does not look washed out? I do not have any fancy tools.

Don't have the people face the sun. Turn them around.

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^

Those seem ridiculously bright...

Honestly, the easiest answer is don't shoot people in the sun if you can avoid it. Find or make shade.

Razeus wrote in post #11181965
^

Those seem ridiculously bright...

Those seem pretty close to a balance in ambient and flash.

The best advice is to shoot when the sun is rising or setting. Thats all there is to it.

zelseman wrote in post #11182575
Those seem pretty close to a balance in ambient and flash.

OTOH, it is an example of using too much fill, so that the image of the subject is clearly 'artificially lit', especially when compared to the same backlit walls of the buildings in the background. It is better to provide -1EV or so lower light compared to the sunlit area, because that is what the brain is expecting to occur in these conditions. Imagine that an adjacent wall (behind photographer) was reflecting light back to the subject, it would be reduced in brightness compared to the sun...we want the fill flash to mimic what might be occurring on scene.