I decided to take photos of the large house opposite mine. The reasoning was twofold. Firstly its proximity meant that it was ease for me to break off from what I was doing to take a photo every two hours. The second was because the frontage of the house is white, and on a ‘good’ day it appears pink at sunset, facing as it does West.
The first question this exercise threw up was ‘What does light look like, and how do I judge or categorise it’?
I took the first image at a little after 06.00. It had been light for about an hour, but the sun was still just under the tree line, and had yet to burn off the cloud. Consequently everything felt subdued and muffled, the clouds acting as a light-box. This dampening of light made everything in my field of vision seem very flat, there was no depth to what I was seeing. Also all of the colours are very washed out and there is an overall blueish tinge to the whole image. This was a little bit of a revelation as normally I only realise this when looking at a photo post shoot. Now I’m looking at the scene in front of me and analysing it before I am taking the shot.
28/05/18 @ 05.51 am
Having decided to take a shot every two hours, annoyingly, something came up which made me miss my 08.00 slot, and so had to shoot the next at 09.00. and then again at 10.00. The reason I did another at 10.00 rather than just continue the two-hour intervals was so that I could take one at Midday with the sun directly overhead. The 09.00 & 10.00 shots were taken when the sun had had time to burn off the cloud and had then started to warm the ground. This produced a slightly different quality of light or situation. The heavy dew was now evaporating and subsequently producing a hazy, but again flat feel.
28/05/18 @ 08.46 am
28/05/18 @ 09.44 am
Next question: Does this mean that ‘Air quality’ is the same, or directly related to ‘Light quality’?
All natural light comes from the sun, so the degree of clarity or quality we get will depend on what is filtering the light. This will be whatever is in the air/atmosphere, whether it be moisture, dust or contamination (smoke etc).
This next shot was taken at midday. As can be seen from the image, the clarity has greatly improved. This was obvious before I even raised the camera to the eye. The ‘morning hue’ was all but gone, and clarity of image was clear to the naked eye. What is lost however is shadow, which adds to, or makes it easier for us to envisage/create in our minds eye, depth. So by shooting at midday I have traded perceived depth for greater colouration.
28/05/18 @ 11.39 am
Now the air is totally clear and I feel as though I can see things that weren’t visible before (this isn’t true, but the clarity/light quality make it seem this way). With shadows now appearing, this image seems to be the best so far.
28/05/18 @ 13.44 pm
Before taking this image I noticed that the shadows on the house had lessened as the sun starts to drop. The light is still improving, as is the image quality.
28/05/18 @ 15.39 pm
There is just the first tinges of pink creeping into the light that is reflecting off of the house, and there is a loss of detail within the flat facade of the house. This is largely due to the sun now being low enough that it is hitting the frontage straight on and washing it out. With everything else though, the quality and ‘cleanness’ is still very much evident. It seems as though the light has got underneath the buttercups and has lifted them free of the flat grass now.
28/05/18 @ 17.43 pm
And so, fourteen hours later we finish much as we’d started. Rather than ending in the much hoped for warm blush of rose-tinted glory, bowing out with a disappointing whimper. The blazing Buttercups once again becoming just a dull speckle in a sea of green and everything retreating to a flat canvas of muted colour.
28/05/18 @ 19.40 pm
I think that if there had not been any mist or cloud cover at dawn/first light then the images would have been a lot better than later in the morning when the dew was evaporating, creating a ‘filter’. As it has turned out, the mist has paid a large part in determining the best time of day to get a photo based on light quality.
The mist never truly cleared, as can be seen in the shot below of the nearby Quantock hills.
I see! 