Requirement
12 images, 1 scene at regular intervals
Purpose
- To study how the quality of light changes throughout the day
- To practice the essential skill of judging how light and shadow will move over a scene
Technical Learning
- The movement of the sun during the course of a day creates options for using the changing quality of light, especially in the early morning and late afternoon or evening
Exercise Instructions
- Choose a bright sunny day (or bright parts of different days)
- Select a scene with a definite subject which will catch the sunlight even when the sun is close to the horizon
- Shoot this scene from dawn to dusk
- Take at least one image per hour, more during the start and end of the day when the light is changing faster
- Use the same composition for each image
- Visit the scene before the day of the shoot to establish the requirements of the exercise. You need to work how light and shadow will move during the course of the day, taking into account that shadows lengthen as the sun falls
- Decide what the ideal light conditions will be
- Which image do you prefer?, which was the best moment? is this the moment you thought it would be?, if not, why not?
Images and Review
How I came to shoot this
I doubted if circumstances would ever allow me to do this project as instructed. Finding a sunny day largely free of commitments as well as a scene that was both suitable for the exercise and accessible seemed improbable. Then on a holiday I found the balcony of my hotel room offered a view almost due north of La Concha, a mountain in Andalucia (if I leaned out slightly). As it was mid March, the day was almost 12 hours from sunrise at 7.30 to 19.20. The forecast was for a sunny day after several of mixed weather. Now or never. Go for it!
I also used Golden Hour, an App on my phone to identify the elevation of the sun and its direction to help read what my light source was doing to my subject.
Images
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| 07.35 - Sunrise Tip of mountain caught by emerging light, largely just a shape against the blue sky Elevation of Sun - 1 º (above horizon) Direction of Sun - 93 º (almost due East) |
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| 07.45 A little more detail revealed... Elevation of Sun - 3 º |
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| 08.00 And so on.. Trees in foreground are now strongly lit, weak golden light Elevation of Sun - 5 º |
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| 08.15 Details of the mountain structure are starting emerge as highlights against the dominant shadows Elevation of Sun - 8 º |
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| 08.30 And so on at pace... Elevation of Sun - 11 º |
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| 08.45 Passing cloud steps in between subject and sun on its journey from East to South, Much detail lost for the moment Elevation of Sun - 15 º |
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| 09.00 Details of contours starting to emerge from the shadows Elevation of Sun - 18 º |
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| 09.30 And so on... Elevation of Sun - 23 º |
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| 10.00 Becoming less contrasty Elevation of Sun - 29 º |
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| 10.30 And so on... Elevation of Sun - 36 º |
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| 11.00 Detail in contours starting to fade as the subject becomes evenly lit from the front and high in the sky Elevation of Sun - 40 º |
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| 13.35 Sun at its peak elevation and just past due South, Strong white light, details of mountain contours largely bleached out Elevation of Sun - 50 º |
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| 15.15 Little change from previous image except for shadow of a cloud caught by sun as its heads from South to West Elevation of Sun - 50 º |
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| 16.30 Shadows of passing clouds add erratic modelling of the mountain shape Elevation of Sun - 32 º |
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| 17.00 Elevation of Sun - 27 º |
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| 17.30 As the sun moves west and falls, the shape of of the mountain starts to re-emerge with the arrival of shadow. Temporary haze reduces intensity of light Elevation of Sun - 22 º |
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| 17.45 Haze passed increasing light intensity, Modelling of mountain texture continues Elevation of Sun - 19 º |
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| 18.00 And so on... Elevation of Sun - 16 º |
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| 18.15 Strong contrast reveals structure of subject Elevation of Sun - 13 º |
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| 18.30 And so on... Elevation of Sun - 10 º |
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| 18.45 First signs of golden hour as the colour temperature gets slightly warmer Modelling of texture continues Elevation of Sun - 7 º |
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| 19.00 And so on... Elevation of Sun - 4 º |
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| 19.10 Intensifying of golden light but stronger contrast throws deeper shadows onto mountain, hiding a lot of the detail Elevation of Sun - 2 º |
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| 19.15 Power of light on mountain now a spent force Elevation of Sun - 1 º |
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| 19.20 Sunset, only the peak is now lit, returns to a shape against the sky Elevation of Sun - 0 º Direction of Sun - 268 º (almost due West) |
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