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The key to photography is lighting. This is probably the most common thing you’ll read about photography because it’s the most essential aspect. If you’re shooting in a studio, you have control over the location and strength of the lighting. If you’re shooting outdoors, you’re at the mercy of the sun. What’s more, the sun’s ideal lighting, commonly known as the golden hour, occurs 1-2 hours after sunrise and 1-2 hours before sunset. This is when the light is softer and warmer. You avoid the harsh shadows of mid-day sun. There’s less of a dynamic range – the difference between the darkest dark and the lightest light isn’t as great, allowing your camera a better chance to capture all the detail without blowing out the highlights. This is true for both landscape and portrait photography.
Golden-hour.com is a golden hour calculator that makes it easy to determine sunrise and sunset schedules for your location. There’s even an iPhone app.
I’ll be honest, this is one of the photography rules that took me awhile to accept. I wanted to shoot what I saw when I was there, not get up when it was still dark out (I am NOT a morning person) so I could be out and ready for a brief period of perfect light. But a willingness to see the qualities of light and understand the need to work with them is one of the things that marks the passage from Person With Camera to Photographer.
Today’s Suggested Topic:
Chaos
Bedtime, pets with toilet paper – capture a scene of chaos.Share a link to your photo in the comments section or upload it to the Glimpses of Soul Facebook Page.
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