by Russell Burden Here's How to Photograph Different Times of Day
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There are many events and happenings for which a person should not be late. Their wedding, job, school, and a plane flight are a few that come to mind. For landscape photographers, two more events are very significant - sunrise and sunset. If these two times of the day are missed, the opportunity to produce images with dramatic and warm light is lost. Prove this by viewing a landscape subject throughout the hours of the day. The changes are significant, especially early and late in the day.
With your camera, record a scene in predawn light. If you're lucky, the sky will be filled with an alpenglow on the eastern horizon. The western horizon should be bathed in pink and magenta pastels. Right at sunrise, record frontlit subjects that are 180 degrees from the sun and sidelit subjects 90 degrees from it. The frontlit shots will lack texture, but take on warm colors. This warm tone disappears within ten minutes. The sidelit shots will show texture, patterns, and shape and also have warm hues. Even though the warmth begins to dissipate, you have a 30 - 40 minute window of time to get great images of sidelit subjects. This window can be extended in the fall and winter because the sun remains lower in the sky as you transition from summer to winter. Make sure you're recording these changes of light once every fifteen minutes.
After the first hour of sunrise, most of the yellows, oranges, and reds are no longer present. The colors shift to a cooler spectrum in that the particulates, pollutants, and atmospheric conditions at the horizon are now below the level of the sun. As the sun continues its climb, blues become the predominant color. Mid day hours produce the coolest tones. Commensurate with the shift to blue, the light becomes flatter and contrasty. Both of these conditions are not appealing for scenic photography.
After the first hour of sunrise, record a front and side lit image once every hour. As the day goes on, continue this schedule until it's an hour before sunset noticing the small changes in color. At this time, sidelit subjects begin to show texture and frontlit subjects get warmer. At one hour before sunset, begin documenting the changes in fifteen minute intervals until the sun goes down. As with dawn, an alpenglow may appear along with the pink glow, but on opposite horizons.
Now that you have witnessed an entire day and documented the changes, get the roll processed and you'll see for yourself that the time of day at which images are made is extremely important. In the two accompanying photographs, the first was shot during mid day. The colors are very blue and the light is harsh. The second was made at first light. The warm and soft tones that illuminate the landscape are much more appealing.
