All moving photography is about communicating an emotion, and communicating an image’s emotion occurs through the proper use of light. Images taken in the outdoors where the photographer wants to communicate the beauty of the natural environment calls for light that is soft, warm and directional, giving saturated colors and soft highlights and shadows…
When could you expect such a light? There is a time when such light occurs: this time is known as the magic hour. Best of all, baring weather issues, it happens twice a day.
Warm light is found just after sunrise or just before sunset, when the sun is low on the horizon. At this angle air molecules scatter the short wavelength blue light more than the long wavelength red light. This causes the sunlight to travel through more of the thicker air near the earth (the air gets thinner the higher one goes in the atmosphere). As a result, much of the blue part of the light is scattered. This leaves a warm light…
Light has a triple nature: color, direction, and quality. It is these characteristics of light that determine how our images turn out. Maximising the three characteristics will produce simply stunning photos that are a pleasure to behold.
While the warmest light will generally occur within about a half hour of sunrise and sunset, the light can, sometimes, begin to pick up a warm tone a couple of hours before sunset. The late afternoon tends to produce warmer light than in the morning. What a spectacular way to end the day…
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