When is the best time to make great images? I get this question repeatedly when showing people around my beautiful island. Well obviously not all locations are lit the best at the same time of day and at the same time of year. Over this past season it was clear that certain places were better lit at different times. All that being said I am a big fan of early morning light. At this time of year especially, because you don’t have to get up at an un-godly hour. If you are up and out by 6 AM you will see dawn, sunrise, and some beautiful light horizontal to the horizon with gorgeous long shadows. Sunset is nice, and at this time of year the sun is lower in the sky all day which gives you more opportunities to shoot. Either way you look at it golden hour is the best. An hour before and after sunrise and an hour before and after sunset will get you some great results. The images will be warmer (color balance) and the lighting will give your images some texture. The difference in color will be before the sun comes up and just after it goes down because the colors are bluer.
This image was made in Ipswich while out for a walk while having my car worked on. It has all three of my points for today’s post. Warm light, long shadows, and texture. In my next post I will be talking about composition. Here’s a tease. Most of my images have a central focus. The image above does not. It has some leading lines but but that’s it. So we will get into a discussion of a few things that I look for when composing an image.