Defining Photography

The word photography comes from the Greek words phos(light) and graphis(stylus or paintbrush), which together mean to "write or paint with light." Over the years as I have learned more and more about photography, I have found that this is the most important thing to understand to be able to take better images. With this blog I am going to try and give a few examples of how much light can influence how we feel about an image.

First let me say, to take really good landscape images you have to be willing to either get up early to catch the morning light or maybe forego that relaxing dinner to catch the last light before the sun sets. These are the two best times of day for landscape photography. The reason for this is that the light from the sun at these times of day gives off a warmer cast than the boring white light of midday. I won't get too deep into the science of this, but it is about the distance the light has to travel through the atmosphere when it's closer to the horizon, which effects the specrums of colors that reach the landscape. Also, the shadows created at these times of day usually can enhance the drama within the image.

Let me first show you two examples of a sunrise at Reflection Lake in Mount Rainier National Park. Notice how the different colors created as the sun comes up makes you feel differently about the images, even though they are practically the same shots.

The sun has yet to crest the top of the mountain in this image, which gives it a cooler appearance.

In this image the sun has just crested the ridge and has added a warmer feeling to the scene.

The next set of images are four shots taken at practically the same location as the sun sets on Otto Lake in Alaska. I can't remember the exact time frame for these images, but my guess would be about an hour or so. Notice as the sun goes down, light hitting the landscape changes not only in color temperature, but intensity, as well.

I would call the lighting on this image more like late afternoon. It is warmer than midday light, but still has a whiter look to it. This is a really good time to begin shooting because the shadows are just starting to creep across the landscape, as you can see in the foreground.

In this image the sun is so close to the horizon that only the mountains can catch the light. At these times of day, a split neutral density filter is needed because the amount of light hitting the mountains and the foreground differs so greatly that the foreground would appear too dark to make a good image and in some cases may go almost black. This is not manipulating the image, it is just giving you a helping hand to show a closer representation of what you saw when you pushed the shutter release.

In this image, the sun is just setting down below the horizon, which means only the last levels of the red spectrum are allowed to hit the landscape, giving a pinkish hue to the light. It gives the image a very soft feel and is one of my favorite lights of the day to photograph.

The sun has now set below the horizon, which now gives the image more of a blue cast. But in return the colors of the leaves on the lake shore are a bit more intense.

To me, all of these are good images but because of the different ways that the sun is lighting the landscape, the way in which the images are interpreted by the viewer is greatly effected. Because of the effect that light has on my images, I usually only shoot landscapes for a few hours a day. Most sunny days when I'm shooting landscapes, I usually quit shooting within an hour after sunrise and only begin shooting again just an hour or so before sunset. Many times when I'm shooting in a national park or similar location, since I woke up at maybe 4 or 5 AM to get to the location I wanted to shoot, I find myself a nice spot by a lake or river to take a nap after lunch since I won't be shooting any images once the sun is higher in the sky.

Now cloudy days are another story, but I'll save that for another blog. Hope this has helped you understand just a little bit more what it takes to be able to take better images that you would be proud to hang on your wall and not just snapshots that end up in a box in the closet under your winter coats.

Thanks for letting me Ramble ON