St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Let's pay attention and see where TEN's Chapter 7 leads us! S-

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6

What To Do Next:
- Read the seventh lesson “Look To The Light”
- Carry out the Creative Exercise at the bottom of the lesson
- Choosing 12 favorite images, yours or one's whose work you admire
- Look at each image for 5 minutes, and make notes about the light
- Use the Creative Exercise as your guide.
- And when ready, discuss the discussion questions
- This should be informal and interactive. So talk, talk, talk!
- I’ll give a go ahead when we’re ready to move to the next lesson
- But feel free to cheat and read ahead if you want!

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Up here at the 47th parallel, light is very different in late fall through early spring than it is in summer. Mid-summer has nearly twice as much daylight as mid-winter, light is much brighter and harsher, and the "golden hour" seems to last mere seconds.

April 26, 2016, an hour after sunrise. Background is a pond, still mostly in deep shadow from surrounding trees.

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2. December 23, 2015, 45 minutes after sunrise. I have mostly seen crisp colors (including pink!) bathing that background mini-mountain & my volcano Mt Adams during winter months. In summer, it’s much more rare and likely to be from air pollution, not the angle of a weak sun and low clouds as seen here.

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September 17, 2015, an hour and a quarter after sunrise. Near the equinox where amount of daylight and dark are equal. My favorite two seasons for light, color, air temperatures: spring and fall!

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4. August 18, 2015, sunrise over a smoke-filled valley (distant forest fires). Most summers since I moved here, Yakima has endured 4 - 6 consecutive weeks of high temperatures over 95 degrees, and with another week here and there thrown in for good measure.

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5. January, 2015: frost and fog, with sun trying to break through. In winter we can have weeks of inversion: thick fog trapping bad air and cold temperatures below it. My least favorite weather condition, though the soft, flat light or the sun breaking through the fog can produce some great photo ops.

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RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

Beautiful examples, Linda, and all well worth while viewing best when downloaded.

Cwilson341 Loc: Central Florida

Linda, I think these are all excellent examples where distinctive lighting greatly enhances the quality of the capture. I also found your seasonal analysis very interesting.

In Florida seasonality seems less significant. There is less humidity at times which makes for prettier skies and less haze but the time of day has a much greater impact.

Is there a term for "light" that is part of the composition rather than just what illuminates the subject? I am just beginning to realize that equal captures from the standpoint of composition, exposure and focus can be dramatically different in perceived quality when "light" participates.

I'm attaching a flower shot taken early in the day with backlighting. I have almost identical shots with front lighting and they look boring and flat compared to this one. I am beginning to recognize this more and more.

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Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Richard and Carol, thank you!

Carol, there is a term and I'm having a brain cramp trying to remember - the word begins with a C, I think :) There have been a couple of threads in FYC that have referenced, and Minnie or someone else will be able to direct us there.

Light is the most inspiring aspect of photography for me, and I think it's so important for new folks to learn the value - right up there with composition and exposure.

Your flower shot is beautiful!

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Chiaroscuro

Some examples that Google thinks are chiaroscuro

http://www.google.com/search?q=chiaroscuro+landscape+photography&client=safari&rls=en&biw=1043&bih=688&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj094uyrLnMAhWCOSYKHSsiBEoQsAQIGw

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Thank you, Minnie! I knew once I got "chorizo" stuck in my brain, it was a lost cause :)

Carol, the author mentions briefly in the "depth" chapter:

3. Use the Light. Painters in the renaissance discovered
an effect they called chiaroscuro, which is
Italian for light-dark and represents the way light
feathers and falls off with distance. Chiaroscuro adds
the implication or illusion of depth and is why photographers
love subjects side lit with window light; it
strikes the object but then gently falls off and does so
because the object itself has dimension - depth. If you
want a photograph with little or no perceived depth
then straight-on light is a good way to get there.
-----

Carol, if this is not what you had in mind, we'll keep thinking.

Personally, I love the "painting with light" reference often made regarding photography. More tips:

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/natural-light-photography.htm

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/basic-light-tutorial-2011.html

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Finding favorite images is always a problem for me whether I'm finding my own or someone else's. I can talk about this subject all day and post more images than UHH may hold (they may not be good but they'll be about light) because light is the thing that intoxicates me in the field. Don't get me wrong, I will shoot in ANY kind of light, from near dark in a monsoon (ask Dave Chinn) to the harsh noon light in the desert. But often I'm making the most of something rather than getting all excited.

Here's a mere 3 that got me excited when I saw them. I will probably post more, because I have some nice ones from exotic locations I've visited, but I wanted to start with where I am, blooming where planted so to speak, because good light can happen anywhere and most of us are home far more than we are visiting famous locations.

#1 - The scene that bound me forever to the small nearby swamp I photograph so much. It was the day after my retirement party, I was feeling a bit sad and doubtful, so got out early on that foggy morning. I'd seldom found much in this swamp but trudged up the ridge anyway. Looking down to the access point I saw this with the sun coming from just the right angle creating these rays. The morning light was golden but "lighter" and more diffused by the fog. I now know more exactly the conditions the give me these rays and actively chase these opportunities, but will forever remember this moment.
#2 - A subtler smaller scale example, because light has its magic effects whether on grand landscapes or macro shots - When the lilies are in bloom, and late afternoon warm light hits them a certain way, I like the way it brings out colors and details.
#3 - A rather random choice from the dam bird collection, which is all about light and shadow anyway. Light enters the dam from the southwest, but compressed light enters the grates and chutes from the northeast, so the directions of light are contradictory and confusing, beams go any and every direction, and the mist rolls the dice even more.

My favorite chapter!!

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RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

Very nice.
I feel undertanding light is critical for good photographs.

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

Very nice examples also. I particularly like #1 and #2.

jgordon Loc: Boulder CO

I love all the images posted in this discussion so far.

Has anyone done the part of the assignment that calls for picking 12 images and analyzing each for 5 minutes and then making notes about the light in each image? That seems like it will be a pretty intense – but I think I will give it a try.

Meanwhile, it has been snowing where I live in Boulder CO for days. In a short break in the weather I wandered outside. The sky was overcast and the clouds acted like a giant diffuser. So, shadows pretty much disappeared and colors seemed to intensify. With lighting on my mind I grabbed a few quick shots that I will attach. The lighting was beautiful -- unfortunately the images I got might not be anything special.

Now I will go back and do the analytical assignment and then see if my next batch of images improves because of it.

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Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

I confess to not doing so because I've been fortunate to have been aware of the significance of light for a long time, especially because it's so important for landscapes and nature photography - my favorite subjects.

I don't remember for sure, but "seeing the light" - so to speak :) - could have started years ago with my black & white film classes, where there is much emphasis on shapes, textures and shadows. (edit - see my mention of Galen Rowell further down this page; I remembered him after reading Minnie's comments!)

Thanks for mentioning, and showing examples of, this often overlooked, and very important, aspect!

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

I did the 5 minute breakdown for the 6 I initially chose, then I posted 3 of them. I had to review the settings from those shots, and the pp steps as best I could to see how I'd interpreted the light.

I'll look at another half dozen as the week rolls on, some of my away-from-home shots, which were the first interest I had. It was only a couple of years into photography that I came to terms with my own humble landscape, and learned what light can do to it.

But my first attraction to photography was the inspiring images of national parks and other grand views. As part of this week's lesson, I tracked back to the author of the first book I owned on landscape photography, Tim Fitzharris, and found the image that struck me most out of that book, one of Johnson Lake in Alberta, an illustration of the chiaroscuro effect Linda mentioned. http://www.timfitzharris.com/index.php?mode=image_browser&cat_id=223&view=catg_view&bck=-1&lbid=&page=1. I would say it was the light that brought me to photography, and what keeps me at it.

Cwilson341 Loc: Central Florida

Linda and Minnie, thank you. I didn't know the term. It just seemed like it should have a name. I looked at the photos on Google and also read the articles referenced. I found it all helpful and inspiring.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

J and Carol: One early inspiration for me was Galen Rowell. I believe the book I had was "Mountain Light" + I attended his lecture and slide show at the Smithsonian circa 1988.

The book "Mountain Light is a celebration of Galen's pursuit of what he called 'Dynamic Landscapes' - landscape images that combined rapidly changing light conditions, spectacular mountain scenery and often an athletic pursuit of these conditions. It's a book full of inspiring landscape images, but this isn't just a coffee-table book - it's a real photographer's book and its 240 pages include an amazing amount of information and tips on landscape photography, as well as a short history of Galen Rowell's own photographic development.
http://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2011/01/book-review-mountain-light-galen-rowell/