- Tips, Tools, and Techniques to Get the Best Landscapes and Cityscapes
- Poring Over the Picture
- Sharp and In Focus: Using Tripods
- Selecting the Proper ISO
- Using Noise Reduction
- Selecting a White Balance
- Using the Landscape Creative Style
- Shooting Beautiful Black-and-White Landscapes
- Golden Light
- Shooting Compelling Sunrises and Sunsets
- Making Water Fluid
- Composing Landscapes and Streetscapes
- Where to Focus
- Easier Focusing
- Using Manual Focus Assist
- Using DMF Focus Mode
- Expand Your Range
- Shooting Panoramas
- Look for the Unexpected
- Chapter 8 Assignments
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Golden Light
My favorite times to shoot landscapes are early in the morning and late in the evening, and most photographers will tell you the same. The light from sunrise to about an hour afterward, as well as from an hour before sunset until the sun dips below the horizon, is the most used light in landscape photography. At these times, the sun is at an extreme angle to the earth, casting long, texture-creating shadows, and because of all the atmospheric debris it must pass through at these angles, the light is warm and it enhances existing color. At no other time of the day does the light act in such a way. It is compelling, dramatic, and, well, painterly (Figure 8.11).
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Figure 8.11 Shooting during the golden hour just after sunrise or just before sunset can make the scene come alive with color. Light that bathes the land at an extreme angle produces texture through shadows and warm light.
ISO 200 • 1/400 sec. • f/10 • 70–400mm lens at 400mm