Chasing the light. How many times do photographers chase sunrises, sunsets, golden and blue hours? When you go to Instagram, thousands of sunrise, sunset images dance through our feeds. Over the course of time there’s a truth to what separates our good images from the average or mediocre.
Is the pretty candle lit room, the vibrant sunset or the cloud infused sunrise the differentiator?
When our spaces and skies are filled with burning oranges and reds, our shutter fingers get a great workout. And for good reason, it’s simply beautiful. Our relationship with the light is a wonderful fundamental of our work. (See: Creating Magic Through Photographing the Light)
Our composition, combined with how we use the available light makes our images stand out. Composition sets the stage, the guide, to pull the viewer to our subjects. When the light itself is not great, it’s up to the the eye of the photographer to find points of interest, lines, textures, color, framing to make our subject pop.
Consider the two images below. The first is a beautiful sunset. The light is nice. But the image? Boring!
The second image. The light is pretty, but not overly special. However, the silhouette of the tree frames the sunset, the color and the moment. A shallow depth of field softened the background allowing the tree to frame the moment. It’s simple, yet inviting.
Chasing the Light or Chasing Composition?
Keeping composition, in addition to light top of mind makes a difference in the impact of our images. A mental checklist of planning and combined spending time in the scene, improves our time management too. The light moves fast which means we do too!
Planning
- What is your plan for the scene? If it’s a repeat location, we apply new ideas and techniques. If it’s a first time visit, arranging plenty of time to walk around and take it in makes a difference.
- As you span the scene, what interests you the most? Sometimes the element that captures your eye is unexpected.
- How will you draw emphasis to your point of interest? The ‘rule of 1/3’s’ is a good one. However, it’s ok to break it if it makes your composition work.
- Watch for and eliminate distractions. If you’re already thinking about having to ‘fix’ something in Photoshop or Lightroom, try to minimize or avoid that distraction at the time of capture.
The Scene – Chasing the Light
- Where do you want to pull the eye? Is your point of interest close, middle or off in the distance. Or, is it an impact moment? Using and managing depth of field is a power packed method of controlling the eye.
- How does the foreground, middle ground and background flow? Check out our Fast Tip on Hyper-focal Distance.
- More to choose from! Capture multiple perspectives your subject – backlit, front lit, side lighting, depth of field.
- How can you lead your viewer through the image? Take advantage of leading lines, natural frames, patterns, lighting, negative space
- Warm and cool. High contrast and low contrast. When working with our scenes, there’s an element of thinking about how to process in post to emphasize what you’re seeing. Our use of color – tones, complimentary and contrasting generates interest. Our use of contrast is another method for directing the eye. High contrast for strong details or low contrast for soft, soothing, dreamy imagery.
- Emotion wins. When your energy for the moment translates to the viewer, emotion has taken hold.
Tools To Maximize Image Quality
We’re in the field, the light is beautiful and our composition is spot on. There are a few tools that help elevate image quality. They’re always with me, either in my car, attached/in my bag. These include:
- Tripod for stability, especially as the light gets contrasty, shifty and starts to fade
- Circular polarizing filter to minimize and reduce glare. Additionally as it filters out the harsh light, colors are more saturated and the details more defined.
- Neutral density (ND) and Graduated Neutral Density (GND) filters are gray glass (multiple choices of gray density) that reduce the amount light passing to the sensor. The ND is consistent coverage across the filter while the GND has a graduated dark to light. The GND is pulled out typically at sunsets or sunrises when the contrast between the sky and foreground are dramatic making it more difficult to find the best exposure. Note: if you don’t have a GND, bracketing your images at the time of capture is another approach. Exposure Bracketing is Beautiful in Photography.
Who determines if your composition is good? You do! As photographers, our best work reflects what our eye and heart sees.
