In a post two weeks ago I set myself an assignment:
Task: take a subject easy to reach and take many pictures of it at different times of day, so from dawn till dusk. Compare the results and see how the subject changes.
Here is the result of that assignment and what lessons I’ve learned from it.
I started out this assignment with the knowledge that light is important and that the best time of day to shoot is around the hours of sunset and sunrise. If you are anything like me, this kind of knowledge only really sinks in after you’ve seen it with your own eyes. I took photos of a leaf covered chimney which is visible from my apartment. The pictures are taken with the same camera and without any level adjustments. I will draw your attention to some aspects which got mine. Click the images to get a larger version. With each picture I added the RGB histogram. (click here to read about histograms) So without further ado, here we go:
This image is taken about 1 hour after sunrise. It has a lot of details in the leaves. The histogram shows a bit of blue being washed out, but all in all fairly balanced.
This image is taken about 4 hours after sunrise. Notice the vibrancy of the colours. Morning sky is in general more clear. There is however less detail in the leaves, it looks a bit more like a green blanket rather than individual leaves. This is also because the sunlit part is lit from the frot as opposed to lit from the side.
We are now 6 hours after sunrise. The contrast between the sky and object start to increase, and detail start to be lost. Also notice that due to the fact that the sun has turned. The light comes more from the sides. This reveals some relief in the leafcover.
Seven hours after sunrise closing in on midday. Notice how the left peak in the histogram (the object) start to be very narrow. This means less detail. Compared to the previous image the shadow side of the chimney has darkened (or the sunlit side and the sky have brightened).
Midday. Out is the detail and the blue sky is the same go. The histograms shows a narrow band on both sides. In short not a great time to take pictures.
Now we are moving to sunset. This is about 3 hours before. The detail is coming back. Notice also that due to the sun from the side, relief in the leaf cover is very visible. This is a great property if you are taking pictures of mountains; a sun from the side of the mountain will reveal substructures on mountains (smaller peaks, grooves, ridges etc.)
One hour before sunset. The blue in the sky is back and shadow side becomes brighter.
Half an hour after sunset. The sky is still fairly bright. The whole picture has a bluish look. This is also because the west north-western sky is blocked by a building. This means that the much redder light from the western sky is not reaching the chimney. I think that is there was no building there, the picture would look redder.
Past midnight. Sun is gone and the moon is up. The bright stripes in the sky are stars, making their progression through the night sky.
Summary
This assignment made it very visual to me how the different kinds of sunlight at different time of day affect an photo. Remember that the photos above are all of the same thing, with the same camera and from the same position, the only thing that changed was the sun! One thing I also learned was that a morning looks different than an evening and it might very well be worthwhile waking up early to take some photos.
- Both the direction, colour and strength of sunlight determine how a picture looks
- Sun from the side reveals relief in the surface
- Morning brings out more vibrant colours.
- Midday creates large contrasts between lit and shaded areas and a lot of detail is lost.
Hope this was useful to you and let me know if you have any additions or comments in the comment section. Happy shooting!
